The High Court had enhanced his sentence to 25 years and 10 strokes of the rotan after an appeal.

The father of six had first been found guilty by the sessions court in 2019 of raping the girl, who attempted suicide after she became pregnant, and was sentenced to 12 years and two strokes of the rotan.

After an appeal by the prosecution, the High Court had last year invoked the punishment for incest which carries a maximum jail term of 30 years and whipping.

He had earlier been charged with statutory rape which carries a maximum imprisonment term of 20 years and rotan. He had committed the offence on the girl, then 13 years and seven months old, between March and April 2017 at a house in Puchong, Selangor.

A three-member Court of Appeal bench, chaired by Suraya Othman, today allowed the man’s appeal against sentence as the High Court had resorted to the wrong provision of the law.

Suraya, who sat with Ahmad Nasfy Yasin and Siti Mariana Yahya, said the appellant should consider himself lucky as the prosecution had also conceded to his appeal.

“I hope you will repent and turn over a new leaf. Don’t indulge in such acts,” she told the man, represented by Usha Kulasegaran from the National Legal Aid Foundation.

The court also thanked deputy public prosecutor Aida Khairuleen Azli for assisting the court so the accused is punished in accordance with the law.

The facts of the case revealed that the man had gone to pick up the girl to attend his daughter’s birthday – but there was no such event.

There was no one at home and the man’s family members had gone out. She only told her mother what had happened after she became pregnant.

The girl was referred to a psychiatrist who suggested that the pregnancy be terminated as the victim was in a state of depression and had attempted suicide.

A DNA paternity test was also conducted on the foetus, which confirmed the man was the biological father.