GEORGE TOWN: A former chairman of a children’s home has been sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment and ordered to be given two strokes of the rotan after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage resident.
The sessions court in Balik Pulau found the 48-year-old man, whose identity was withheld, guilty under the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.
The accused was charged with sexually assaulting the girl, who was 16 years old then, at a children’s care centre at Kampung Sungai Nibong in Bayan Lepas on Feb 19, 2023.
According to court documents, a police report was lodged on May 1, 2023, after the girl disclosed the incident on March 5.
Investigators visited the premises the same day, and a video recording said to be linked to the case was seized and later sent to the police forensic laboratory for analysis.
Sessions court judge Ahzal Fariz Ahmad Khairuddin handed down the sentence after listening to the victim’s impact statement and the prosecution’s submissions on the impact of the offence on the victim and her family.
However, the court granted the accused a stay of the sentence pending an appeal.
The accused was granted bail of RM25,000 with one surety, and was ordered to surrender his passport and report to the nearest police station once a month.
Deputy public prosecutor Lim Jin Hong prosecuted, while Chandra Segaran represented the accused.
