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30th December, 2020
KOTA KINABALU: A man who married a 15-year-old teenage girl after causing her pregnancy, pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court to a charge of raping her.
Earlier, the 19-year-old youth who was brought before judge, Noor Hafizah Mohd Salim, admitted to the charge read to him; however, upon hearing that the prosecution objected to his bail, the man changed his guilty plea to innocent.
The unrepresented accused allegedly raped the 15-year-old girl in a room of a house at a residential park in Kinarut, Papar in March, 2019.
He faces a charge framed under Section 376 of the Penal Code which provides for a jail term of up to 20 years and whipping, on conviction.
The accused explained to the court that he had married the victim and even admitted that the baby conceived by the victim was his child.
“I have tried to do everything, I even take care of the child too and now I am responsible to feed my family…please, I don’t want to be apart from my family,” he pleaded.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP), Megat Mahathir Megat Tharih Affendy through the Zoom application from the DPP’s office maintained his application for no bail to be allowed on the accused as the (accused) is currently staying with the victim, where there is a high possibility of him tampering with the prosecution’s main witness.
No bail was allowed on the accused who will be further detained under Section 259 of the Criminal Procedure Code pending disposal of the case.
The court fixed pre-trial case management on January 19. –NEDM
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