KUALA LUMPUR – With RM3 handed over as hush money, the vile act of a man who raped an eight-year-old girl finally caught up with him when he was sentenced to ten years' jail and two strokes of the cane by the Sessions Court here on Thursday.
Hilmee Kusnan, 49, who is unemployed, was handed the sentence after changing his plea to guilty on one charge each of rape and sexual assault, during proceedings set for the first day of trial, before Judge Mohd Kafli Che Ali.
The court sentenced him to ten years' jail and one stroke of the cane for the rape charge and four years' jail and one stroke of the cane for the sexual assault case.
The judge ordered the sentences to run concurrently, beginning from his arrest date of Sept 5, last year.
The court also ordered the accused to undergo counselling sessions for two years in prison, along with an additional two years of police supervision after completing his sentence.
Under both charges, Hilmee was accused of raping and committing physical sexual assault against a girl who was eight years old at the time of the incident, at an apartment unit in Cheras here, at 10.30am on Sept 4, 2025.
For the rape charge, the accused was charged under Section 375(g) of the Penal Code and can be punished under Section 376(2)(e) of the same code, which provides for imprisonment of between ten and thirty years and whipping, upon conviction.
The sexual assault charge was made under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, which provides for a jail term of not more than twenty years and whipping, upon conviction.
According to the facts of the case, after the victim bought fried bananas at a stall near her home on the day of the incident, the child entered a lift with an unknown man.
The accused pulled the victim to his home and committed the despicable act.
He then sent the victim to the lift and told her to go home, before handing her RM3 while warning her not to tell anyone about what had happened.
The victim then went home and got ready for school, but while waiting for the bus, she told a friend about the incident.
The victim's friend told her own mother about the matter, before the woman contacted the victim's mother.
The victim's mother acted swiftly, picking up the victim from school and taking her to hospital for further examination.
Examination results found tearing to the victim's genitals, and the accused was arrested a day after the incident.
During proceedings, lawyer Dr Mohamad Ismail Yunus, representing the accused, appealed for his client to be given the minimum sentence as this was his first offence.
"He has no prior criminal record, so I ask that the accused be exempted from the whipping sentence as he has diabetes," he said.
However, deputy public prosecutor Noor Shakira Aliana Alias proposed that the accused be given a heavy sentence, taking into account the victim's young age.
"This incident has left the victim with permanent trauma," she said.