Man jailed 12 years for sexually assaulting minor

KUCHING: A man who sexually assaulted his underage girlfriend was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment and five strokes of the cane by the Sessions Court here today.

27-year-old Mohammad Safiysyahiran Johari pleaded guilty when the two charges were read in front of Judge Musli Ab Hamid.

He committed the offence on two occasion (December 2024 and January 2025), both at 1:30 am at a room of a village near Petra Jaya, where he sexually assaulted his underage girlfriend.

Each offence was committed under Section 14 (a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act (SOACA) 2017 and punishable under Section 14 of the same Act.

For the first charge, he was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment and three strokes of whipping while for the second charge, he was sentence to six years’ imprisonment and two strokes of whipping.

Both sentences are to run consecutively. The accused was also ordered to go for rehabilitative counselling during the period of his sentences, and is also ordered to undergo police supervision for two years upon serving sentence.

Facts of the case revealed that the girlfriend was told by a medical officer that she was pregnant.

A police report was then lodged, and the accused was subsequently arrested on October 30, 2025.

Investigation revealed that the accused and the victim was in a relationship since December 2024.

Throughout the period, the accused always brought the complainant around the village before bringing her into a storeroom.

When the incident happened for the first time, the accused was 16 years and five months old, while the second incident happened when she was 17 years old.

The prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor, Aiman Zarith Zahrullail, while the accused was represented by counsel Christopher Bada.