MUAR: "I am evil," said a senior citizen, before being sentenced to 12 years in prison and six strokes of the rotan by the Sessions Court here, for sexually assaulting his granddaughter, 10, last year.
The 72-year-old made this admission when judge Abu Bakar Manat asked how he could have committed such a heinous act on the child who had been under his care since her parents divorced.
"You did this to your own grandchild. You are not young anymore.
"If you loved her, you would not do these things. We are adults. Just by looking at her face, we should not even want to do this to her.
"She lived with you, she was like your own child. You were supposed to take care of her," the judge said, before sentencing.
Earlier, the accused, a land scheme settler, pleaded guilty to two charges read out to him.
On the first charge, the accused, who is married, was charged with sexually assaulting the girl at 11pm in a room at a house in Kluang, last year.
On the second charge, he was accused of repeating the acts on the girl at 9pm at the same place, from April to May, last year.
The charges were under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, read with Section 16(1).
Section 14(a) carries a maximum jail term of 20 years and caning, while Section 16(1) provides for additional punishment of a jail term of not more than five years, and whipping of no less than two times, for each charge.