PUTRAJAYA, March 5 — The Court of Appeal here today upheld the 10-year jail sentence and two strokes of the cane imposed on a 31-year-old man for sodomising a teenager in 2020.

A three-man bench led by Justice Datuk Azman Abdullah, sitting with Justices Datuk Noorin Badaruddin and Datuk Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid, dismissed C.Logenthiran’s appeal against his conviction and sentence.

Logenthiran, who was represented by M. Kartan, a lawyer from the National Legal Aid Foundation, had sought to have his case remitted to the Sessions Court for trial, submitting that his client had made a conditional plea of guilt.

However, in delivering the court’s unanimous decision, Justice Azman said the court’s record showed no conditional plea of guilt have been made by Logenthiran, a former temple worker, prior to the Sessions Court’s sentencing.

He said the appellant’s plea of guilt was not defective as his plea of guilt was made with his knowledge and his admission to the facts of the case which was consistent with the charge. He said Logenthiran was also represented by a lawyer at the Sessions Court.

In 2024, the Kuala Kangsar Sessions Court had sentenced Logenthiran to 10 years’ imprisonment and two strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to the charge of committing carnal intercourse against order of nature on the victim, then 15 years old, at a temple in Hulu Perak district in Perak.

He was also ordered to undergo counselling while in prison and remain under police supervision for two years after completion of his imprisonment.

According to the charge sheet, the offence occurred between 12.30 am and 2 am in the month of February 2020. 

In 2025, the High Court dismissed Logenthiran’s appeal and upheld the Sessions Court’s decision.

Today, Kartan told the Court of Appeal that the Sessions Court should have send the case for trial as his client had made a conditional plea of guilt as there was an informal plea bargaining between him and the prosecution. He added that his client is a transgender individual and had undergone certain procedures to become a woman.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Hafizah Johor Ariff Johor submitted that the charge had been read and explained to the appellant, and that he had acknowledged that he understood the charge. She further submitted that the appellant did not raise any issue regarding his conditional plea of guilt or informal plea bargaining. — Bernama

 Malay Mail – Malaysia