A three-member Court of Appeal bench, chaired by Justice Azman Abdullah, dismissed the man’s final appeal against conviction and sentence.
He had been on a RM15,000 bail pending the outcome of the appeal.
Justice Noorin Badaruddin, who read the broad grounds, said the prosecution’s case was intact despite minor discrepancies in the testimonies of its witnesses.
“It is best left to the trial judge, who had the audiovisual advantage to determine the demeanour of witnesses,” she said, adding that an appellate court would be slow to disturb the finding of the trial court.
Also on the panel hearing the appeal was Justice Zaini Mazlan.
Noorin said that although the girl was 13 when the incidents took place, her testimony was not difficult to accept.
Although the victim only exposed the crime sometime later, Noorin said there was no doubt that the sexual assault took place.
“In other words, the late police report is no reason to doubt the victim’s credibility and the prosecution’s case,” she said.
Noorin acknowledged that the victim would have difficulty expressing her trauma to others, more so as the perpetrator was her father, who is supposed to protect her.
“We find that the conviction is safe and there is no reason to alter the sentence by the High Court,” she said, adding that the court must send a strong message that society disapproves of such disgusting conduct.
The sessions court, in 2023, found the man guilty of committing the offences and punishable under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.
It ruled the man had sexually assaulted his daughter on three occasions between December 2017 and February 2018 at a house in Muar, Johor.
The sessions court sentenced him to eight years’ jail on each count and ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
However, the High Court later ordered that the sentences run consecutively.
Deputy public prosecutors Fadli Nik Azlan and Zaki Asyraf Zubir appeared for the prosecution while Iskandar Shah Ibrahim and Ismail Hafiz Iskandar Shah acted for the man.