KA Ramu said the unemployed man had filed a notice of appeal against the conviction and sentence with the help of Kajang prison authorities despite having pleaded guilty before a Klang sessions court judge in January.

“We will attempt to quash the conviction since he has filed such a notice,” said Ramu who was appointed to appear for the man in the Shah Alam High Court.

However, no appeal hearing date has been fixed as the High Court is awaiting for the trial judge, M Kunasundary, to provide her grounds of judgment.

“We will file the petition of appeal on where the judge had gone wrong once judgment is made available,” Ramu told FMT.

He had earlier filed an application to review the man’s case in the High Court after the excessive jail term received wide coverage by the media.

Ramu, who is handling the case on a pro bono basis, has since withdrawn the review application since the man filed an appeal from prison.

The lawyer said the review was filed instead of an appeal as he was unable to take instruction from the accused, who was then unrepresented.

The man then appointed Ramu to represent him when brought to court for mention for the review in February.

On Jan 27, Kunasundary handed the jail term and 24 strokes of the rotan to the man for sexually assaulting the minor 105 times over a two-year period.

The judge ordered the accused to serve 10 years in jail and two strokes of the rotan for each charge, with the sentences to run consecutively from the date of his arrest on Jan 20.

The man committed the offence at a house in Sungai Way, Petaling, Selangor, from Jan 5, 2018 to Feb 24, 2020.

Section 376B of the Penal Code provides for a jail term of not less than 10 years and not exceeding 30 years, and whipping.

Lawyers interviewed by FMT expressed reservation on the sentence, with one describing it as ridiculous.