Man to serve 20 years' jail, to be caned 19 strokes for sexual assault, making pornography

PUTRAJAYA: A 25-year-old man will have to serve 20 years in jail and be whipped 19 times for sexually assaulting 12 female children and making or producing pornography.

This was after Mohd Amir Mohd Layi, 25, withdrew his appeal before the Court of Appeal today against his sentence of 15 years' jail and 18 strokes of the rotan for three charges of committing physical sexual assault on three children and three charges of producing or making pornography.

Mohd Amir, however, did not appeal against his five-year jail term and one stroke of the rotan imposed by the High Court for other sexual assault charges involving other child victims, two charges of inciting a child to an act of gross indecency and one charge of outraging the modesty of a child.

A three-member panel comprising Justices Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said, Datuk M. Gunalan and Datuk Nordin Hassan subsequently struck out Mohd Amir's appeal.

Earlier, Mohd Amir's lawyer Mohd Azlan Shah Mohd Allias informed the court of his client's wish to withdraw the appeal and deputy public prosecutor Mohd Fairuz Johari told the court that he has no objection to the withdrawal of the appeal.

Mohd Amir was charged at the Kuala Terengganu Sessions Court in April 2018 with three counts of making pornography, 12 charges of sexually assaulting children, two charges of inciting a child to an act of gross indecency and one outraging modesty charge.

He pleaded guilty to all the charges on Dec 10, 2018 and was sentenced to a total of 16 years' jail and 19 strokes of the rotan.

He was given 15 years' jail and 18 strokes of the rotan for the three counts of producing pornography and three counts of sexually assaulting three children aged six, seven and eight years old and one year's imprisonment each for the rest of the charges involving other victims and one stroke of the rotan, with the sentences to run concurrently.

At the High Court, Amir was given a total jail sentence of 20 years and 19 strokes after the High Court, on July 31, 2019, allowed the prosecution's appeal to increase the one-year jail sentence for each of the other charges to five years' jail and one stroke of the rotan, to run concurrently.

The High Court, however, dismissed the prosecution's appeal and upheld the 15 years' jail and 18 strokes of the rotan for the three charges of making pornography and three sexual assault charges.

The High Court also ordered Mohd Amir to begin his five-year jail term after he completed his 15-year jail sentence.

According to the charge sheet, Mohd Amir committed the offences in several locations in the Marang district and Kuala Terengganu district in Terengganu between Jan 1, 2017 and March 26, 2018.

-- BERNAMA