By Dorcas Ting
KUCHING, June 24: The Court of Appeal today unanimously dismissed an appeal by an unemployed man who was sentenced by the High Court to 20 years behind bars for raping a disabled girl.
The appellate court maintained the High Court’s decision on appellant Kaderi Keram, 52, who was slapped with two charges under Section 376(1)(k) of the Penal Code.
He was initially charged in the Sessions Court with raping a girl with learning disability in a hut at a pepper farm in Kampung Gedong between 4pm and 5pm in early and end of January 2017.
Following the rape, the victim later became pregnant.
When the Sessions Court handed down the sentence of 10 years’ jail for each charge, it did not state whether the imprisonment terms should run concurrently or consecutively.
On March 2 last year, the High Court ordered the imprisonment terms imposed by the Sessions Court to run consecutively, meaning the appellant will be in jail for 20 years. — DayakDaily
