Kusumoto

Ric Kiyoshi Kusumoto appeals from a judgment of conviction entered after a jury found him guilty of two counts of lewd and lascivious acts upon a child (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (a)), two counts of rape by object (Pen. Code, § 289, subd. (a)), and one count of child molestation (Pen. Code, § 647a). He was sentenced to a term of 12 years in prison on the section 289(a) counts. Sentence on the two section 288(a) counts was stayed pursuant to section 654.

I

Thirteen-year-old Jerine and her fifteen-year-old sister Eryine lived with their sister Anrica and her husband, Kusumoto. One afternoon, when Jerine was sleeping on the couch, she awoke to find Kusumoto’s hand in her shorts and his finger in her vagina. She cussed him and went into her room. A couple of weeks later, while Jerine was sleeping on the couch late at night, she again awoke to find Kusumoto’s hand in her shorts and his finger in her vagina. She went to her room and closed the door.

II

Penal Code section 289(a) provides: “Every person who causes the penetration, however, slight, of the genital or anal openings of another person, by any foreign object, substance, instrument, or device when the act is…