KOTA KINABALU, March 18 — The High Court here increased the jail sentence of an English teacher from four years to seven years’ jail for touching the private parts of an eight-year-old pupil in a classroom last year.
Judicial Commissioner Datuk Duncan Sikodol enhanced the jail sentence of Dunip Kundangau, 50, after allowing an appeal by the prosecution, who requested for the jail term to be increased.
Apart from that, the judge also allowed for Dunip’s jail sentence to run consecutively with his other seven years’ imprisonment for touching a 15-year-old girl’s thigh and trying to fondle her breasts inside a moving car.
However, the judge ordered for the whipping sentence against Dunip to be maintained.
On May 29, 2020, the lower court sentenced Dunip to a total of 11 years’ jail plus two strokes of the rattan after he admitted to committing physical sexual assaults against both minors in Kota Belud.
On the first count, Dunip was jailed for four years and ordered to be caned once for caressing the little girl’s private parts in the classroom of a primary school between mid and end of August 2019.
On the second count, Dunip received another seven years’ jail and was ordered to be given one stroke of the cane for touching the teenage girl’s thigh and trying to fondle her breasts inside a moving car on October 30, 2019.
The lower court had ordered for Dunip to be placed under police supervision for two years after serving his jail terms and both his jail sentences to run from the date of his arrest.
The offences were under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences against Children Act 2017 which provides for a jail term of up to 20 years and whipping, upon conviction. — Borneo Post
