Stepdad’s jail term for sexual abuse, incest on minor reduced to 39 years

 

Justice GSP Bhupindar Singh said he decided to reduce the man’s prison term from 99 years to 39 after taking into consideration many factors, including public interest.

PETALING JAYA: 

A man who sexually abused and committed incest on his underage stepdaughter over four years had his jail sentence reduced from 99 years to 39 by the High Court in Ipoh.

Justice GSP Bhupindar Singh said he decided to reduce the prison term by 60 years after taking into consideration many factors, including public interest.

He said the man was 40 years old when he pleaded guilty in the sessions court and was sentenced to a long jail term and ordered to be whipped.

“Based on the sessions court’s decision, he will be in prison until the age of 139 but with one-third remission, he could be released at age 106.

“However, to be alive in that advanced age is impossible because official government statistics show that the average lifespan of a Malaysian male is 73,” he said in his 17-page judgment, in allowing the man’s appeal against the sentence.

Bhupindar said the 39-year jail term, minus the one-third remission, will result in the man being freed from prison when he is 66.

“He will be in the twilight years of his life and the chances of repeating the offences are slim,” he added.

Moreover, the judge said, the man would have undergone a rehabilitation process while in prison.

The man has now filed a final appeal to the Court of Appeal to get a further reduction in the jail term.

The sessions court had sentenced him to 99 years in prison on four counts of sexual abuse and 19 counts of committing incest on the girl between June 2017 and December 2021.

The offences took place when she was aged between 10 and 14.

According to the facts of the case stated in the judgment, the man had forced the girl to have sex with him at their home in Ipoh when her mother was away for work.

He initially warned the victim against telling her mother by threatening to disseminate videos of their sexual acts to her friends. He also threatened to beat her and her mother if the offences were to be made public.

However, the girl later told her mother about what had happened, leading to a police report being made in 2022.

Medical evidence from the girl led to the man’s conviction. - FMT