Lorry driver faces jail and caning after raping 11-year-old daughter

A lorry driver faces 81 years behind bars and eight cane lashes after raping and molesting his pre-teen daughter over a period of four years. His brother-in-law – the girl's uncle – took part in one of the attacks and has been sentenced to five years in prison.

The 50-year-old father cannot be named in order to protect his daughter, who he assaulted between 2011 and 2015 when she was aged between 11 and 15. She is the second of six children fathered by the man.

He pleaded guilty to forcing her to perform a sex act on him, raping her twice and using force to offend her modesty – groping her – twice. The girl's uncle joined in at one of the groping sessions.

"The father is supposed to be the protector of his daughter, yet he betrayed this trust. This also applies to the uncle," deputy public prosecutor Noor Dayana Mohamad told the court.

The attacks took place at the father's house and also at the house of a relative, although local reports in Malaysia do not specify if the property belonged to the uncle.

The abuse only came to light after the girl – who is now 17 – told her aunt. The aunt went straight to the police and the girl was sent for a medical examination at the Sultan Ismail Hospital. Doctors found her hymen had been torn.

Her father, who is deaf, had to wipe away tears as his sentence was handed down by Judge Zahilah Muhammad Yusoff. He will almost certainly die behind bars.

In addition, he will face the rotan, or cane. Corporal punishment is still dished out for male offenders in Malaysia. It is most commonly exercised behind closed doors at prisons. Convicts are fastened to an A-frame, stripped and made to wear a special "torso shield, which exposes their buttocks, but protects their organs and genitals. A special caning officer then administers the lashes.

Men over 50 are normally exempt from this form of punishment in Malaysia – the only exception being for rapists. The girl's uncle was spared the rod.

In neighbouring Indonesia, caning was only introduced in 2005 as part of a more general shift towards Sharia Law. Offenders are often caned in public while fully clothed.