A three-member Court of Appeal bench chaired by Kamaludin Md Said said the trial judge did not err in facts and law in finding the man guilty of the offences.

However, the bench partially allowed the appeal against the sentence, reducing it from 13 years imposed by the High Court to 10.

“The jail term will run concurrently. We now issue the order of committal,” said Kamaludin, who sat with judges Abu Bakar Jais and Nordin Hassan.

The man was on bail pending the outcome of today’s decision. His family members were present in court when the final ruling was pronounced.

He committed the offences at a house in Sekinchan, Selangor, between July and August 2017.

Section 14 of the Sexual Offences against Children Act, which carries a jail term of up to 20 years and up to 24 strokes of the rotan, prohibits anyone from touching any part of the body of a child for sexual purposes.

The sessions court had sentenced the grandfather to 13 years’ jail and three strokes of the rotan for each of the offences, to run consecutively. This means he would have to serve 26 years in jail and be whipped six times.

Following an appeal, the High Court ordered the jail sentences be reduced to 10 years for each offence, to run concurrently. It also set aside the whipping.

Deputy public prosecutor Khushairy Ibrahim prosecuted while lawyer V Ayasamy represented the accused.