Man Sentenced To 1,050 Years In Jail For Raping Stepdaughter Wants To Appeal Conviction
He was sentenced to 24 strokes of the cane along with the jail term by the Klang Sessions Court on 27 January.
By Daranee Balachandar — 30 Jun 2021, 06:50 PM
A man who is serving 1,050 years in jail for raping his stepdaughter has applied to appeal his conviction and sentence
It was previously reported that the Klang Sessions Court sentenced the man to over 1,000 years jail term and 24 strokes of the cane on 27 January this year.
The sentence came after the accused pleaded guilty to raping his 12-year-old stepdaughter 105 times at a house in Sungai Way, Petaling Jaya between 5 January 2018 and 24 February 2020.
Judge Datin M Kunasundary ordered the rapist to serve 10 years' jail and receive two strokes of the cane for each rape charge, reported New Straits Times.
The sentences were ordered to begin from the date of his arrest, which was on 20 January.
After being imprisoned for a few months, the accused filed a notice of appeal to the High Court from the Kajang Prison.
The accused's lawyer K A Ramu said that he and his client are waiting for the grounds of judgement from the Sessions Court to appeal
He also questions whether or not the conviction is legal.
According to Ramu, the rapist pleaded guilty without being represented.
"We will file the petition of appeal to the court once the grounds of judgment from the trial judge is made available," said Ramu, who is representing the accused on a pro bono basis.
Ramu contended that the trial judge should have ensured a number of criteria had been met before accepting the accused's guilty plea that lead to the conviction and sentence
"For example, the court must ensure the accused understood the charges and also ensure there were no defects in the charges," the lawyer said.
Due to the Movement Control Order (MCO), Ramus said the court has not fixed any date as of yet.
While meting out the sentence earlier this year, the trial judge told the accused that she hoped he would repent for his crime in prison.
"You should not have committed a violent act and although the punishment is minimum, the court feels this is sufficient by taking into account the number of charges against you," the court heard Kunasundary as saying at the time.
