07-05-2025
Man loses second appeal against rape conviction
KOTA KINABALU (May 7): An unemployed man has failed in his second appeal at the High Court here against his conviction and sentence for raping his underage cousin.
On Wednesday, Justice Datuk Duncan Sikodol dismissed the 25-year-old's appeal, upholding his 23-year jail term and 12 strokes of the cane imposed by a lower court on May 18, 2023.
The man had raped his nine-year-old cousin in Kota Marudu in 2016, an offence under Section 376(2) of the Penal Code.
This marks his second unsuccessful appeal.
On May 20, 2024, another High Court judge upheld his earlier conviction for raping and sodomising his younger sister in 2017, when she was 10.
For that case, he was sentenced to a total of 33 years in prison (21 years for rape and 12 years for sodomy, to be served consecutively) and 19 strokes of the cane.
The lower court also ordered three years of police supervision post-release and mandatory rehabilitative counselling during his imprisonment.
The appellant was represented by counsel Datuk Bernard J Dalinting in both cases.
