An Indonesian father of six has been sentenced to 13 years in prison in Malaysia after pleading guilty to causing the death of a man whom his 12-year-old daughter had accused of raping her.
The 30-year-old man was sentenced at the Tawau High Court over the August 2024 death of a 33-year-old compatriot. He had initially faced a murder charge, but prosecutors later amended it to culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304(a) of Malaysia’s Penal Code.
The court ordered that the sentence run from Sept. 2, 2024, the date he was arrested. He will also be referred to the Immigration Department after completing his prison term.
The case began on the night of Aug. 31, 2024, when the man’s daughter told her mother that she had been raped while returning home from a social gathering. After learning about the allegation, her father armed himself with a parang and went looking for the accused man.
The victim was later chased to a nearby chicken coop, where the father attacked him several times with the weapon. The man died sometime between the evening of Aug. 31 and noon the following day.
Forensic evidence subsequently presented in court linked the victim to the alleged sexual assault. Analysis by Malaysia’s Chemistry Department found the victim’s DNA on clippings taken from the girl’s fingernails, while DNA from semen recovered from her underwear also matched the victim, according to the facts presented to the court.
Police arrested the father at his home on Sept. 2, 2024, and seized the parang believed to have been used in the attack.
The original murder charge carried significantly more serious consequences, but the amended charge under Section 304(a) concerns culpable homicide that does not amount to murder. The offence carries a maximum prison sentence of 30 years and a fine.
The case highlights the distinction between the alleged sexual assault and the separate criminal prosecution arising from the father’s decision to confront and kill the man. While forensic findings were presented as evidence linking the victim to the alleged rape, the father was sentenced for causing the man’s death.
The court proceedings brought the two events into the same case, with the daughter’s allegation preceding the fatal attack and the subsequent forensic examination becoming a key part of the evidence presented to the court.
