 |
|
|
|
|
|
Wife framed me, claims man accused of rape
|
|
|
Sat, Mar 15, 2008
NST
|
|
|
|
|
>SHAH ALAM, MALAYSIA - After pleading guilty to raping his 3-year-old daughter in 2005, the accused caused a stir yesterday at the appeal hearing of his sentence when he claimed he was innocent. The 42-year-old factory worker received the maximum punishment of 40 years and 24 strokes of the rotan for two counts of raping the girl.
The lower court had on June 25 last year sentenced him to the maximum of 20 years in jail and ordered him to receive 12 strokes of the rotan for each charge. The jail terms were to run consecutively.
Yesterday was supposed to be the appeal hearing of his sentence but the accused caught everyone by surprise when he told the judge: "I didn't do it. My wife had framed me.
"She had always been suspicious of me. I am a responsible father and husband. Why did she accuse me of committing such a crime?"
He said his wife fabricated such stories after he had hit her. The accused said his wife had said she would seek revenge against him.
At this juncture, High Court judge Datuk Su Geok Yiam asked why he had pleaded guilty in the first place.
The man said: "I admitted because my counsel at that time told me to. He said that I would only get a jail term of between four and five years."
Deputy public prosecutor Badius Zaman Ahmad submitted that the appellant had pleaded guilty and based on principles of law, he could only appeal against the sentence and not conviction.
"From what the appellant has said, it shows he cannot be trusted. Does a beast like him deserve our sympathy?" asked Badius.
Su adjourned the case to April 7.
The appellant was charged on July 6, 2006 with raping his daughter at his home in Kuang, Gombak, on March 19 and Nov 9 the previous year.
The victim is the fourth of his five children.
|
|
| |
|
STORY INDEX
|
|
|
|
|
|
