MUAR: A father who raped his daughter until she became pregnant was sentenced to 702 years in prison and 234 strokes of the rotan by the Sessions Court here after pleading guilty to 19 charges of rape and 11 charges of sexual assault against his two daughters.

However, the 53-year-old accused will have to serve a 42-year prison sentence after Judge Abu Bakar Manat ordered the sentences for all rape and sexual offences to run concurrently from the date of his arrest on July 10 and will receive the maximum legal limit of 24 whippings.

According to the first to 19th charge, the cleaning worker is accused of raping his two daughters who were then 9 and 10 years old at two houses in Bakri and Jalan Jeram Tepi, Muar here, since 2018 and the last time was on July 9.

The charges were in accordance with Section 376 (3) of the Penal Code which provides for a prison sentence of up to 30 years and 10 lashes if convicted.

As for the 21st to 30th charge, the accused is accused of sexually assaulting both victims at the same location and time in accordance with Section 14 (a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 and read together with Section 16(1) of the same act which provides imprisonment of up to 20 years and whipping.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Danial Munir asked the court to mete out a heavy sentence because the offence committed by the accused was serious and left lifelong trauma to both of his children due to being raped from childhood until one victim was five weeks pregnant.

The accused, who was not represented by a lawyer, appealed for a lighter sentence on the grounds that he had repented and regretted his actions.

The court sentenced him to 30 years in prison and 10 strokes of the rotan for each count of rape.

For the charge of physical sexual assault, the court sentenced him to 10 years in prison and two whippings for each charge under Section 14 and an additional two years in prison and two lashes for each charge under Section 16.

-- BERNAMA