KOTA KINABALU: The High Court here freed a man from a charge of raping his teenage niece four years ago.
Judicial Commissioner Duncan Sikodol made the decision after allowing an appeal by the appellant against his conviction and sentence.
The judge quashed the appellant’s sentence of 20 years’ jail and 15 strokes of the rattan imposed by the lower court on August 27, 2019.
The hearing was held via video conferencing.
The appellant, who was represented by counsel Amli Nohin, had been convicted by the Kudat Sessions Court after he was found guilty of raping the 13-year-old girl in a house at a village in Kudat in early September 2017.
The charge was under Section 376(3) of the Penal Code which carries a jail term of between eight years and 30 years and whipping, upon conviction.
In passing the sentence, the lower court had also ordered for the appellant to serve his sentence from the date of his conviction on August 27, 2019.
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