Lorry driver Hashim Karim will serve the sentence from the date of his arrest on Aug 22, said judge Mohamad Kamil Nizam.

During mitigation, Hashim said he had to take care of his school-going child.

Deputy public prosecutor Aimi Syazwani Sarmin pressed for a deterrent sentence to serve as a lesson to the accused as it involved an infant.

She said the victim was like a granddaughter to the accused and he should have taken good care of the girl.

Aimi also reminded the court that despite Hashim’s age, he was allowed to be whipped as it involved a sex offence.

She also applied to the court to prohibit the media from publishing the identity of the victim under section 14 of Evidence of Child Witness Act 2007.

The court earlier heard that parents of the infant had sent their child to Hashim’s daughter-in-law for babysitting on Aug 20.

She told Hashim to take care of the baby as she wanted to settle her car insurance and road tax. When she returned, she found the baby crying in the cradle and saw blood on the child’s pants.

The child’s parents later took the baby to hospital after they discovered blood in her diapers.

An obstetrician and gynaecologist who examined the child said the injury sustained by the child could have been caused by a huge blunt object which was forced into her private part.

Police investigation revealed that the accused had told his son that he had inserted his finger into the child’s private part.