The man, a 31-year-old pisang goreng seller, was sentenced to two years in prison and fined RM2,000 after pleading guilty on Thursday to a charge of kidnapping the girls.

Former Bar president Salim Bashir said the courts should impose a heavier penalty on people convicted of kidnapping children without ransom, to serve as a deterrent to would-be offenders.

“The court should also consider the agony and trauma experienced by the children to send a clear message that society abhors such acts,” said Salim, a former chairman of the Bar Council’s criminal law committee.

It was time for the government to set up a sentencing council to provide the courts with a yardstick on a range of sentencing periods to be considered for every offence.

‘Longed for daughters’

In the kidnap case, Shahriza Othman, a father of two boys, had approached the girls while they were playing in front of their house in Jeram, Selangor.

He gave them RM50 to accompany him to deliver letters. The girls went with him in his car to a grocery store, and on a ride around Jeram, stopping at his house before he took them home around 7.45pm.

Shahriza’s lawyer said the man committed the act because he “longed for daughters”.

He was charged under Section 363 of the Penal Code which provides for a maximum sentence of seven years’ imprisonment and a fine.

Call for appeal or revision

Another lawyer, A Srimurugan, said the magistrate appeared to have failed to consider the prosecution’s submission highlighting the increasing number of kidnapping cases to warrant a heavier punishment.

Srimurugan said kidnapping a minor from lawful guardianship was a very serious offence while a lenient sentence would send the wrong message, even if the offenders were to plead guilty.

He said the prosecution should file an appeal or a High Court judge could immediately call for a revision of the case.