Salihin (left) being escorted by a policeman from the court room.
KUCHING: A jobless man was sentenced to 18 years in prison and ordered to be given five strokes of the rotan by the Sessions Court here yesterday for raping an underage girl last year.
The 21-year-old accused Mohd Salihin Effendi was found guilty by presiding judge Amelati Parnell who ruled that his defence had failed to raise reasonable doubt on the prosecution case.
Salihin was convicted for committing rape on the 16-year-old school girl in an empty house at Jalan Masja on Aug 16 at 3pm last year.
The court ordered his custodial sentence to take effect from the date of his remand order on Sept 1 last year.
Prosecutor DPP Ahmad Fariz Abdul Hamid urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence on the accused as he did not show any sign of remorse.
He said during the incident, the accused had also caused injuries to the girl when he bit her private part.
The accused did not make any mitigation to the court prior to the sentencing and insisted that he did not commit the offence despite the finding by the court.
It was learned that the accused was supposed to send the girl to a boarding school but instead brought her to the empty house where the rape took place.
He later sent the girl to the school. The girl disclosed the incident to her teacher when she was spotted being unusually quiet and isolated herself from her friends.
The incident had left her traumatised.
Salihin who was not represented by any defence counsel was convicted to a charge under Section 376(2) of the Penal Code.