KENINGAU: A local man was jailed for 13 years and ordered to be whipped 10 times while another man was sentenced to eight years in prison and one stroke of the cane for raping a 12-year-old girl.
The victim is a stepdaughter of the first accused and cousin of the second accused.
Both the accused, aged 25 and 39, pleaded guilty before judge Aziz Azreena to committing the offence between 2011 and 2014.
The court also ordered the two accused to be placed under police surveillance for two years after completing their sentences.
Prosecuting officer Inspector Ramona Albert said the first accused had committed an offence under Section 376 (3) of the Penal Code, while the second accused under Section 376 (1) of the Penal Code.
Ramona said the victim, a Form One student, was raped several times by her stepfather in a room of their home in Kampung Jaya Baru Bingkor, Keningau. She was often threatened by the suspect until she fled to seek refuge in the house of her aunt.
“Further investigations revealed that the accused is the stepfather of the victim after her mother remarried in 2005. The second accused is the nephew of the victim’s mother.
“The victim was first raped by the accused early in 2011 when she was nine years old. Since the first incident, the accused had sex with the victim two to three times a week when her mother was not at home or at night when all the house occupants were sleeping.
“The victim did not dare to tell her mother as she was threatened and intimidated by the accused who has a hot temper,” said the prosecuting officer.
According to Ramona, the girl was last raped around 11am on March 18, 2014 in the room when she was preparing to go to school.
“At the time of the incident, the victim’s sick mother was asleep in the living room. When the accused realized that his wife had awakened, he put on his pants and asked the victim to go to school,” she added.
Ramona said the victim’s ordeal continued when her cousin raped her when she went to his house to borrow an iron in February 2014.
“The victim had earlier complained to the second accused that her stepfather raped her several times,” she said.
On April 9 this year, police arrested the two accused after the victim’s aunt and the school where the victim was studying, lodged a report with the Social Welfare Department and the police.