A three-member bench chaired by Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah also allowed the prosecution’s appeal to reinstate the longer jail term imposed by the sessions court in 2018.

The six strokes of the rotan were also maintained.

In dismissing Muhammad Bukhori Mohd Zawawi’s appeal against conviction, Zabidin said the trial judge and the High Court did not err in finding that the accused committed the offence.

“After going through the written and oral submissions, we find the conviction against the accused is safe,” said Zabidin, who sat with Hadhariah Syed Ismail and Supang Lian.

However, the bench was of the view that the High Court was wrong to reduce the jail term from 16 years to 10.

The trial court had sentenced Bukhori to 16 years’ jail and ordered him to be whipped six times.

The penalty for the offence is a jail term of between 10 and 30 years, a fine and whipping.

The wife of the accused and his parents were seen in tears as Zabidin issued the warrant of committal. Bukhori had been freed on bail of RM30,000 before this.

The bench also allowed an application by lawyer Shukri Mohamed that Bukhori be allowed to serve his sentence at the Pengkalan Chepa prison near Kota Bharu.

Bukhori committed the offence between 11pm on Oct 15 and 1am on Oct 16, 2016 – when the girl was two months short of turning 18 – at Bukit Peraksi Semerah in Pasir Mas, Kelantan.

The court was told that he had gone to her workplace with two others in a car to send her home. Initially, she was reluctant after seeing the two strangers but the accused persuaded her to follow them.

Instead of sending her home, Bukhori drove to the crime scene where he raped the victim.