Since he had been under detention from the day of his arrest, he had served his time with his one-third remission taken into account.
A three-member bench chaired by Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil also quashed the one stroke of rotan imposed on the accused, who was 19 years old when the offence was committed.
Karim, who sat with Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera and M Gunalan, said the appellant, now 23, was a youthful offender and there was no element of violence.
The judge said the appeal against the sentence is allowed but the conviction is maintained.
The accused committed the offence on the girl, then 15 years and four months old, at a house in Klebang, Melaka, about 12.30am on Oct 11, 2017.
Facts revealed that the girl left her home without her parents’ knowledge to meet the accused in the evening on Oct 10, 2017.
After spending time in town, he took her to a house where the crime took place. She returned home the following day and upon questioning, a police report was made, leading to the arrest of the accused.
The Sessions Court sentenced him to 10 years’ jail and ordered him to be whipped once after he was found guilty of the offence in 2019.The High Court affirmed the conviction and sentence in 2020.
However, the accused walked out a free man today because he is entitled to one-third remission of the five-year jail term.
Deputy public prosecutor Atiqah Abdul Karum prosecuted while Andrew Lourdes represented the accused.
Exec told to defend breach of trust charge
Meanwhile, the same panel also allowed the prosecution’s appeal to order a former executive of Telekom Malaysia to enter his defence on four counts of breach of trust amounting to RM1.6 million.
Karim said there was evidence that Shamsul Bahri Musa, 52, was entrusted with the money that ended up in his and his wife’s accounts.
“After a maximum evaluation of the evidence, we find the prosecution has established a prima facie case,” he said in setting aside the acquittal by the sessions court and the High Court.
Karim said Shamsul’s case will be mentioned tomorrow before the same court for bail application and to fix hearing dates.
DPP Mohd Khushairy Ibrahim appeared for the prosecution while Hasnal Rezua Merican appeared for Shamsul.