KUALA LUMPUR: A former courier was sentenced to 12 years in prison and four strokes of the rotan after pleading guilty to charges of raping his 12-year-old girlfriend two years ago.
Sessions Court judge Mohd Kafli Che Ali ordered Mohammad Nazmi Aiman, 21, to consecutively serve six years in jail and two strokes of the rotan for each of the two rape charges levelled against him.
Nazmi was charged with raping the girl at a house in Sungai Besi at 11 on Sept 24, 2022, and again at an apartment block staircase in the same area in October the same year.
Each charge under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code carries a maximum 20-year jail term and whipping upon conviction.
Following sentencing, Nazmi's mother, who sat at the public gallery, ran to the dock to hug him.
The court heard that he had brought the girl to his house, where he led her to a room and raped her before sending her to a nearby eatery.
In mid-October 2022, he once again asked the girl to meet him at an apartment block staircase, where he raped her.
The girl later confided in her family, and her aunt lodged a report.
Deputy public prosecutor Noor Shakira Aliana Alias asked the court to impose a sentence that would serve as a lesson as the girl was just 12 at the time of the offences.
"Although they were in a relationship, that does not justify the accused taking advantage of a young girl. He should have been her protector," she said.
"It is not love at all if it is merely masked by lust."
Earlier in mitigation, defence lawyer Khaliq Mehtab Mohd Ishaq pleaded for Nazmi to be given a bond or an order that could substitute for a jail sentence as it was his first offence.
"Imprisonment at 21 will not benefit him, as he is still young and has a long way to go. A jail sentence will mark a dark period in his life that will never be erased.
"He was 19 when he committed the act and is remorseful. He had known the girl for about four months before they became a couple."