The High Court here has reduced a 23-year-old man’s prison sentence for raping a 15-year-old girl from a total of 10 years and six strokes of the cane to one year’s imprisonment and two strokes.
Judicial Commissioner Samry Masri allowed the man’s appeal against the sentence, saying the Sessions Court had not given sufficient consideration to his age, status as a first-time offender and potential for rehabilitation.
The accused was 19 when the two offences took place on Oct 8 and Oct 29, 2022. At the time, he was working in the dining hall of a residential school in Kuantan, where the victim, referred to in court as SP4, was a student.
He was convicted after trial on two counts of rape under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code. The Sessions Court had sentenced him to five years in prison and three strokes of the cane for each offence, with both sentences ordered to run consecutively.
While upholding the convictions, Samry said the girl’s age meant her consent was legally irrelevant under Section 375(g) of the Penal Code.
However, he said sentencing must still consider the circumstances surrounding each individual case. The judge noted that the man was a young first offender and said there was no evidence suggesting an ongoing predatory risk that required a lengthy period of imprisonment.
Samry also described the case as materially different from sexual offences involving predation, grooming, coercion or exploitation. In reaching his decision, he considered the accused’s existing relationship with the girl, her age being relatively close to 16, the circumstances in which their meetings were arranged and the absence of evidence indicating grooming or planned exploitation.
The court subsequently reduced the sentence for the first charge to six months’ imprisonment and one stroke of the cane, while the second charge was reduced to one year in jail and one stroke. The prison terms are to run concurrently, resulting in an effective sentence of one year.
The High Court also retained orders requiring the man to undergo rehabilitative counselling and remain under police supervision for two years.
Samry stressed that the ruling should not be interpreted as recognising a child’s agreement as a defence to statutory rape. He said sentences must remain “just, proportionate and responsive to the circumstances of each offence”.
