A thirty-two-year-old local man was sentenced to jail for 23 years and six months with 16 strokes for 15 charges of raping two minor girls, possession of obscene photos of the girls, sexual grooming of the girls and unlawful carnal knowledge of one of the girls.

The defendant, Norin bin Pungut, raped 13-year-old Miss X twice in a bedroom at a house in the Brunei-Muara District sometime in April and May 9.

Three charges stated that the defendant possessed three obscene photos of Miss X in a pen drive on April 6.

Two charges stated that the defendant raped 15-year-old Miss Y in March and April in a bedroom at a house in the Brunei-Muara District.

One charge stated that the defendant had unlawful carnal knowledge of Miss Y on two or more occasions sometime prior to April in a bedroom at a house in the Brunei-Muara District with an intention to sexually groom Miss Y by luring her into meet-ups in the bedroom.

Seven charges stated that the defendant possessed seven obscene photos of Miss Y inside a pen drive on May 6.

Judge Pengiran Masni binti Pengiran Bahar considered the mitigating factors of the case, having said there was not much in favour of the defendant, but his clear record and instant guilty plea in saving the court and prosecution time and expenses as well as saving the victims from going through a full trial and having to go through the ordeal of testifying the whole incident.

The aggravating factors, put forward by the prosecution and taken into account by the judge, were the fact that the defendant was put in the position of trust by the victims, the defendant having taken advantage of the victims at their tender ages and had taken advantage of the victims' bereavement of the loss of their mother where they had started to see the defendant as a trusted person.

Judge Pengiran Masni said that the court gives no tolerance to such an abhorrent crime and a sentence must be passed bearing in mind the order to punish the defendant and deter others from committing it.

The judge also believed that the defendant would have continued committing the offences had it not been discovered.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sharon Yeo informed the court that the offences came to light when Miss X's schoolmate reported to a teacher that she was bringing a flick knife to school.

Miss X was interviewed by the teacher who also found scars on her wrists. Miss X told her teacher that she and her sister had been having sex with the defendant.

The teacher filed a police report which led to the defendant's arrest.

Source:
@BRUDIRECT.COM

by BruDirect.com

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