KUALA LUMPUR - A MALAYSIAN clerk was shocked to find her husband molesting their seven-year-old daughter during a routine weekend visit to her mother's place.

The child had apparently told her grandmother about the ordeal of her being 'teased' by her 44-year-old father in November last year.

The 31-year-old woman lodged a police report against her bus conductor husband. On Wednesday, he was jailed 24 months by a magistrate's court here for molest.

The man admitted to molesting the girl in a condominium in Jalan Genting Klang in Setapak between 9am and 9.30am between Nov 1 and Nov 30, 2007.

The court was told that the girl confided in her grandmother about her father's teases and that the teasing involved him pressing his body against her and putting his private parts against hers.

The clerk took her daughter to a playground near her house on Dec 8 and asked her if the incident had occurred.

The victim admitted that her father had twice tried to force himself on her while her mother was at work.

Assistant public prosecutor Norhanum Hassan pressed for a deterrent sentence, saying that the accused has two previous convictions for possession of stolen property and theft.

'The incident had also traumatised the child,' she said, adding that the court had to consider the public interest, seriousness of the actions and that the sexual offences against children were rampant.

The judge ordered the man to serve his jail term from his date of arrest on Dec 11 last year. - The Star/ANN.