KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 — An unemployed man was sentenced to 10 years in prison and two strokes of the cane by the Sessions Court today for raping and physically assaulting a young girl while she was returning home after buying fried bananas at a stall near her home.
Judge Mohd Kafli Che Ali handed down the sentence to Hilmee Kusnan, 49, after he changed his plea to guilty on the first day of the trial.
"For the rape offence, the accused is sentenced to 10 years in prison and one stroke of the cane, while for the physical sexual assault charge, the sentence is four years in prison and one stroke of the cane," he said, ordering the prison sentences to run concurrently from the date of the accused's arrest on September 5, 2025.
The court also ordered Hilmee to undergo two years of counselling while in prison and two years of police supervision after completing his sentence.
The accused is charged with raping the eight-year-old girl at a flat in Cheras at 10.30am on September 4, 2025, under Section 375(g) of the Penal Code and is punishable under Section 376(2)(e) of the same code, which provides for a minimum prison sentence of 10 years and a maximum of 30 years and whipping.
He is also charged with committing physical sexual assault on the victim at the same place, time, and date under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and whipping.
According to the facts of the case, on the day of the incident, after the victim bought fried bananas at a stall near her house, she walked home and entered the lift with a man she did not know, the accused.
Hilmee then grabbed the child's hand and took her into his house, where he committed the acts against the child.
After the incident, the accused told the victim to go home, warned her not to tell anyone about the matter, and gave her RM3.
She told her friend about the incident, who then told her mother, and the woman informed the victim's mother. The child's mother took her to the hospital for further examination.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Noor Shakira Aliana Alias requested a severe sentence considering the trauma the victim suffered as a result and the serious nature of the offence committed by the accused.
Lawyer Mohamad Ismail Yunus, who represented Hilmee, appealed for a minimum prison sentence on the grounds that his client had no previous criminal record other than suffering from diabetes.
