KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 31 — A school van driver was sentenced to 24 years’ jail with two strokes of the cane by the Sessions Court here today after he was found guilty of two counts of raping a 16-year-old slow-learner student.

Judge Zulqarnain Hassan imposed the sentence on Ser Kim Joo, 51, after the defence counsel failed to raise reasonable doubt at the end of the defence case.

“This case involves a van driver who sends and fetches students from their homes to the school. This case has attracted the attention of the public and caused concern. However, the court has considered the fact that the accused seems weak and his age is more than 50 years,” the judge said before imposing sentence.

The court imposed the sentence of 12 years and one stroke of the cane for each charge against Ser and ordered that the sentence run concurrently from the date he was arrested on Dec 2, 2014.

This meant that the accused will only be jailed for 12 years and be caned twice.

The court made the decision after hearing the testimony of eight prosecution and two defence witnesses.

The accused, a widowed father of four, pleaded not guilty to two charges of raping the Form Four student at a flat in Wangsa Maju here at 11 am on Nov 22 and 29, 2014, and was charged under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code which provides for a jail sentence of up to 20 years and caning.

Earlier, counsel Tan Choon Hong who represented Ser, asked that a minimum sentence be imposed on the accused, with no caning, as he had not committed an aggressive act which left a negative effect on the victim.

He also asked that the accused’s age during the incident be considered.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Liyana Zawani Mohd Radzi asked for a heavy sentence to be imposed as a lesson to the accused and society and advised the public not to take advantage of children, especially those with medical problems.

“The victim’s mother had trusted the accused with sending her to the tuition centre. However, he had tricked the young victim who was a slow learner and raped her twice at his home,” Liyana Zawani said. — Bernama