KUALA LUMPUR: The Court of Appeal has rejected the final appeal of a man, who has qualification in early childhood education, convicted of soliciting pornographic material from an underage girl through WhatsApp.
The panel, led by Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, upheld the 10-year prison sentence with 12 strokes of the cane.
Judges Datuk Azmi Ariffin and Datuk S.M. Komathy Suppiah joined Datuk Hadhariah in confirming the conviction and sentence previously determined by the Taiping High Court, Perak.
Hendra Mulana, 33, admitted to having a forbidden relationship with a 12-year-old girl whom he knew through social media called 'Bigo' five years ago.
Though they never met physically, Hendra often persuaded the victim to have explicit conversations to the point of exchanging pornographic pictures and videos through WhatsApp.
The quorum concluded that Hendra's claim of being in a romantic relationship with the victim, with intentions to marry her, was not credible and noted that he made no effort to meet the girl's family to discuss his purported intentions.
"From the beginning, the appellant knew the victim was a child and only took advantage of her.
"We agree with the findings of the Sessions Court and the High Court that anyone can recognise the victim is a child based on her profile picture.
"The appellant did not make any effort to meet the victim to ascertain her true age," stated Judge Azmi in a written judgment dated July 1, obtained through the court's website.
On Nov 2, 2023, the Taiping High Court reduced Hendra's sentence from 13 years for each charge, as initially decided by the Taiping Sessions Court.The sentences take effect concurrently.
In addition, Judicial Commissioner Noor Ruwena Md. Nurdin ordered Hendra to undergo counselling sessions in prison and placed him under police supervision for three years following the completion of his sentence.
Hendra was convicted on all four charges of soliciting pornographic material from an underage girl at certain times between late night and early morning between Oct 14 and Oct 17, 2019, at a house in Changkat Jering.
He was charged under Section 8(b) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 which provides a maximum of 15 years and a minimum of three strokes of cane.