Mother sentenced to 75 years jail for forcing daughters into prostitution (Update)

JOHOR BARU: A woman who prostituted her two young daughters to Bangladeshi workers was sentenced to 150 years in jail by the Sessions Court today.
The 39-year-old unemployed woman had earlier pleaded guilty to 10 charges of forcing her daughters aged 10 and 13-years-old into having sex with the foreigners at a budget hotel in Larkin Perdana here.
The offences were committed on five different dates, on Oct 1 and from Oct 4 to Oct 7.
She was accused of selling her daughters for RM50 a session and sometimes the children would receive RM1, RM5, RM10 or RM20.
She was charged under Section 31(1)(b) of the Child Act 2001 read together with Section 16(1) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 for the offences.
The mother will however only spend 75 years in prison, after Sessions Judge Kamarudin Kamsun sentenced her to 15 years' jail for each charge, and ordered the sentences to run concurrently for charges with the same dates.
Clad in an orange tudung, blue top and long pants, the woman who was not represented pleaded with the court to mete out a fine for all the charges, as she has two younger children aged four and five to care for.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Suhaila Shafi'uddin in urging for a deterrent sentence, said the woman had acted in a cruel manner towards her young daughters.
She said although the accused had saved the court's time by pleading guilty, this should not be a discount in sentencing.
Suhaila stressed that her actions had gravely impacted her children, which the court should take into consideration.
In sentencing, Kamarudin said the offences were of a serious nature, adding that the sentence should serve as a deterrent to would-be offenders.
The woman was arrested on Oct 25 at Taman Bintang in Senai following a tip-off.
Following her arrests, the two children were sent to the Sultanah Aminah hospital for medical examinations, and were later placed under the care of the Welfare Department.
Investigations revealed that the mother had known the three Bangladeshi men involved for eight years.