SEREMBAN, Nov 15 — A Bangladeshi man was sentenced to 22 years in prison and given 15 strokes of the cane by the Sessions Court here today for incest resulting in the victim, who is his stepdaughter, giving birth.

Judge Datin Surita Budin handed down the sentence on Md Babul Hossain, 44, after finding the man guilty of raping the girl, who was then 13 years old.

She ordered him to serve the sentence from the date of his arrest which was February 20, 2020.

"After hearing the mitigation by the accused and objection by the prosecution, there is no compromise in an incest case. The accused was supposed to protect his stepdaughter who was 13 years old (at the time of the incident),” said the judge.

Md Babul, who was a cloth merchant, was charged with committing incest by raping his 13-year-old stepdaughter at the Tekir Orang Asli Village, Mentera, Labu Batu 10, here, at about 10.30pm on February 15, 2020.

The charge, framed under Section 376B of the Penal Code, provides imprisonment of between 10 years and 30 years and whipping, upon conviction.

The prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Goh Hsiao Tung, while the accused was unrepresented.

Meanwhile, Goh, in requesting a proportionate punishment, said the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test conducted on the accused and the child born to the victim found they were the same and there was no strong evidence to show that the cloth merchant was not at the scene.

"The accused’s stepdaughter lost her biological mother due to brain cancer. Therefore, the victim is completely dependent on the accused to protect and take care of her. However, the accused has taken advantage of the victim.

"The victim was abused four times until she reached the age of 13. For a child, her life should be focused on studies and happiness. However, her life has been affected because she is now a single mother while having to continue her studies,” she said. — Bernama