Man gets 80 years’ jail, 20 strokes for raping niece since she was 9

Published: Wednesday September 24, 2014 MYT 11:50:00 AM
Updated: Wednesday September 24, 2014 MYT 11:51:50 AM

Man gets 80 years’ jail, 20 strokes for raping niece since she was 9

BY STEPHANIE LEE

 

KOTA KINABALU: A man who sexually abused his niece for six years was sentenced to 80 years’ jail and given 20 strokes of cane by the Sandakan Sessions Court Wednesday.

Yohanes Kopong, 40, pleaded guilty to six counts of charges against him before judge Egusra Ali to committing the offence since 2009 when his niece was just nine-year-old.

The victim, now 14, is currently seven month pregnant with his child.

Judge Egusra sentenced the Indonesian man to eight years’ imprisonment and 10 strokes of the rotan for the first count, 10 years (second count), 12 years (third count), 14 years (fourth count), 16 years (fifth count), and 20 years plus 10 strokes of the cane for the last count.

His sentence was to run concurrently.

According to the facts presented by the deputy public prosecutor Mohd Filanny Siji, Yohanes who is the brother of the victim’s father was unemployed when he went to live with the victim and her family at an estate in lower Kinabatangan and was responsible of taking care of the victim and her siblings.

However, he started molesting her when her parents were working and later raped her several times between 2011 and this year.

The accused had forced her to perform oral sex on him, made her consume drug-laced drinks and watch pornographic videos with him before raping her.

He continued to live with the family after getting a job as a labourer and had threatened to kill her and her family if she ever told anyone or refused to have sex with him.

The incident came to light on Aug 29 when the teenager’s mother became aware of her bodily changes and they lodged a police report on Sept 3.