By Dorcas Ting
KUCHING, May 10: A 30-year-old man has been sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to receive two strokes of the cane after being found guilty of raping a 15-year-old boy four years ago.
On July 14, 2023, the prosecution successfully established a prima facie case against the accused on four amended charges under Section 377A of the Penal Code read together with Section 377B of the same code at the close of the prosecution’s case before being ordered to enter his defense.
At the conclusion of the defense case today, Sessions Court Judge Iris Awen Jon found the accused guilty of one amended charge under the same section.
A total of 11 prosecution witnesses, including police officers, doctors, the victim’s mother, the owner of the rented room premises, and the victim himself, were called throughout the trial at the end of the accused’s defense case.
The court ordered the accused, a former technician, to serve his prison sentence with immediate effect.
Based on the facts of the case, the accused and the victim became acquainted through the social media application Grindr.
As a result of this acquaintance, the accused and the victim engaged in a clandestine relationship, which led to the incident.
During today’s proceedings, the accused, represented by lawyer Christopher Bada, appealed for a lighter sentence due to the need to care for aging parents.
Additionally, at the time of the incident, the accused did not force the victim into unnatural sex acts, and it was the victim himself who consented.
Furthermore, throughout the proceedings, the victim himself admitted that he wanted to feel the experience of same-sex intercourse.
The victim also admitted that he had same-sex intercourse with another partner other than the accused.
It is understood that the victim himself came forward to make a police report about the accused’s actions after he suffered health problems as a result of unnatural sex.
The prosecution of the case is handled by Deputy Public Prosecutor Ruvinasini Pandian. — DayakDaily
