PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal here today upheld the 42-year jail sentence imposed by the High Court on an unemployed man who raped his underaged stepdaughter 105 times over three years.

The 36-year-old man was also ordered to be given 24 strokes of the rotan.

This followed a decision by a three-man bench of the Court of Appeal, comprising Justices Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim and Datuk Azmi Ariffin, which dismissed the man's appeal against the jail sentence.

In delivering the court's unanimous decision, Justice Hadhariah said the High Court's decision in sentencing the man to 42 years in jail and 24 strokes of the cane is upheld.

"What kind of a father to rape his own daughter or stepdaughter, (even) one time we cannot forgive, what more 105 times," said Justice Hadhariah during the appeal proceedings, adding that the girl suffered 105 times.

Fathers are supposed to protect their children and not hurt them, she said, adding that the court is more concerned with protecting young children and young girls.

She said the court did a study which showed that such cases are on the rise and is not convinced that the man is remorseful.

Earlier lawyer K.A. Ramu, representing the man, told the court that his client would be in prison until he is 63 years old and urged the court to reconsider lowering his jail term to 30 years.

He also told the court that his client was remorseful and wanted to return to society.

Deputy public prosecutor Dhiya Syazwani Izyan Mohd Tahir, who described the appellant as "a sick man", said the 42-year imprisonment is appropriate.

She said the appellant committed the offences when the girl's mother was at work.

On Jan 27, 2021, the Klang Sessions Court sentenced the man to 1,050 years in jail after he pleaded guilty to 105 charges of raping the girl at a house in Sungai Way, Petaling Jaya Selangor. The girl was 12 years old in 2018.

He had raped the girl 58 times in 2018, 35 times in 2019 and 12 times in 2020, bringing the total number of charges to 105. The Sessions Court also ordered the man to be given 24 strokes of the rotan.

On March 7, last year, the High Court in Klang reduced the sentence to 42 years and upheld the sentence of 24 strokes handed down by the Sessions Court. He appealed to the Court of Appeal.

-- BERNAMA