A senior citizen was sentenced to 12 years' jail and two strokes of the cane by the Special Court for Sexual Crime Against Children for inserting his finger into an 11-month-old girl.

Judge Mohamad Kamil Nizam ordered Hashim Karim, 68, to serve the sentence from the date of arrest, which was last Aug 22.

He meted out the sentence after the former lorry driver pleaded guilty to committing the offence in a house in Shah Alam at 4pm on Aug 20.

During mitigation, Hashim, who wore an olive-coloured shirt and white shorts, said he had to take care of his schoolgoing child.

DPP Aimi Syazwani Sarmin had pressed for a deterrent sentence to serve as a lesson to the accused as it involved an infant.

She said the victim was like a granddaughter to the accused, and he should have taken good care of the girl, instead of causing her injury.

Aimi Syazwani also said that although Hashim was 68 years old, she was seeking for the court to mete out a whipping sentence on Hashim, adding that it was allowed under the law for sexual offenders.

She also applied to the court to prohibit the media from publishing the identities and information related to the victim under Section 14 of the Evidence of Child Witness Act 2007.

According to the facts of the case, which was read to Hashim in court, the parents had sent their child to a babysitter on Aug 20.

At about 4pm, the babysitter had asked Hashim, her father-in-law, to take care of the baby as she wanted to settle her car insurance and road tax.

When the babysitter returned home, she found the baby crying in the cradle and saw blood on the child's trousers. When the child had a bath later, the babysitter again found the presence of blood.

The child’s parents subsequently took the baby to hospital after they discovered blood in her diapers.

An obstetrician and gynaecologist who examined the child said the injury sustained by the child could have been caused by a huge blunt object which was forced into her private part.

Police investigation revealed that the accused had told his son that he had inserted his finger into the child's private part and that the conversation was heard by a third person.

- Bernama