However, the man was spared 17 strokes of rotan for his crimes because the Penal Code exempts any offender aged 50 and above from being caned.

“These are heinous crimes committed against children. It is therefore justified that you are kept in prison for a long time,” said Court of Appeal Judge Kamaludin Md Said.

The victims were 12 and 13 at the time of the offence.

Kamaludin, who chaired a three-man bench, said there was no reason to interfere with the findings of the sessions court that ruled the man’s jail terms should run consecutively.

The other judges were Nordin Hassan and Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim.

Lawyer Izleen Ismail, from the National Legal Aid Foundation, submitted that the man could not turn over a new leaf if he was in prison for a long time.

“He will most probably die in prison or leave jail at an advanced age,” she said.

However, deputy public prosecutor Zaki Ashraf Zubir submitted that the sessions court was correct to impose a long custodial sentence due to the gravity of the offences.

“There is no issue of a crushing effect to be in prison for a long time as the man took advantage of two young girls,” he said, adding the sentence should serve as a deterrent to others.

The accused committed the offences between early 2016 and late 2017 at a house in Sungai Petani, Kedah.

The victims’ mother, who was married to the man, only discovered what had happened to her daughters when she caught him having sex with one of the girls in late 2017.

She lodged a police report in early 2018 and the man pleaded guilty to three counts of incest and one for sexual assault.

On April 5, 2018, the court sentenced him to 15 years jail and five strokes of the rotan each for incest.

He was sentenced to another four years in jail and two strokes of the rotan for sexual assault.

The trial judge ordered the jail terms to run consecutively, which meant a total of 49 years in jail and 17 strokes. The High Court also affirmed the sentence in 2019.