KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 — The High Court here set April 25 to hear the appeal by a 37-year-old unit trust agent who had been sentenced to 48 years jail and 24 strokes of the cane, for 623 sexual offences against his eldest daughter aged 15, last year.
Justice Datuk Azman Abdullah set the date after counsel Cyrus Tiu Foo Woei applied for time to study the charge and the man’s record of appeal.
“I have just been appointed; I was made to understand that the record of appeal is at the prison and I need time to read and study it,” the lawyer said.
Deputy public prosecutor Aimi Syazwani Sarmin did not object to counsel’s application.
The man, a divorced father of three girls, filed the appeal in October last year to reduce his sentence.
Tiu, from the National Legal Aid Foundation, told reporters when met that he was appointed to represent the appellant on March 7 as the latter did not have a lawyer.
Meanwhile, the appellant appeared nonchalant when he was escorted into the courtroom at 9.43am today.
The case generated a lot of attention as the man was the first in the country to face a multitude of sexual charges.
On September 8 last year, the Criminal Court on Sexual Crimes Against Children in Putrajaya sentenced the man to jail after he pleaded guilty to 591 counts of sodomy, 30 counts of physical sexual abuse without intercourse, one charge of rape and one charge of sexual assault.
Judge Yong Zarida Sazali meted out 28 years for the rape, 20 years for the sexual assault and 20 years for each count of physical sexual abuse, to run concurrently from his arrest on July 26, 2017.
For the 591 sodomy charges, the judge handed 20 years on each count, to run concurrently, which would commence only after the man had completed the 28 years.
The court also ordered the man to undergo rehabilitation counselling for 10 years and to be placed under police supervision for three years upon completion of his jail sentence.
It further ordered the man to pay RM10,000 compensation to the victim or face another 12 months in prison.
The man was also ordered to be placed under a RM10,000 deposited bond of good behaviour with one surety, for five years, and do 240 hours of community work for six months. — Bernama
