PUTRAJAYA: A former school bus driver was sentenced to eight years in jail by the Court of Appeal today after he was convicted for three counts of sodomising a 11-year-old boy in his vehicle seven years ago.

The three-man bench comprising Justices Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, Datuk Azman Abdullah and Datuk S.M.Komathy Suppiah allowed the prosecution's appeal to overturn a High Court decision to acquit and discharge Kassim Tahir for the offence.

In the court's unanimous decision, Justice Hadhariah said Kassim's conviction for the offence is restored.

On the sentence, Justice Hadhariah said the court set aside the Sessions Court's decision in imposing 10 years imprisonment for each charge and replaced it with eight years imprisonment for each charge to run concurrently.

She also said the sentence of whipping imposed by the Sessions Court on Kassim for each charge is set aside.

Justice Hadhariah ordered Kassim to begin his sentence from today and said the eight years jail sentence would also take into account the time served by him (Kassim).

Earlier, Justice Hadhariah said the High Court erred in ruling that a preliminary inquiry should have been held before the Sessions Court accepted the victim's evidence.

On July 16, 2019, the Sessions Court sentenced Kassim to 10 years imprisonment with one stroke of the rotan for each charge and Kassim was ordered to serve the sentences concurrently. On Sept 8, 2020, the High Court overturned the Sessions Court's decision and acquitted and discharged him.

According to the charge sheet, Kassim committed the offences in the bus in Ulu Tiram, Johor at 8 pm between April 2016 and May 2016.

Deputy public prosecutor Aida Khairuleen Azli submitted that it was not necessary for the Sessions Court judge to conduct a preliminary inquiry under Section 133A of the Evidence Act as the victim was not a child of tender years when he testified in the court. She said the victim was already 14 years old when he provided a detailed testimony on what Kassim did to him.

In mitigation, the lawyer from the National Legal Aid Foundation Che Muji Che Noh representing Kassim said her client is suffering from a kidney problem and also asked the court to reduce the jail sentence.

-- BERNAMA