A 41-year-old volunteer claimed trial at the Sessions Court here today to 38 charges of sexually assaulting and sodomising 10 male students of a tahfiz centre

Tahfiz volunteer pleads not guilty to 38 allegations of sexual assault, sodomy

MOHAMAD AZIM FITRI ABD AZIZ
New Straits Times22 March 2018



KUANTAN: A 41-year-old volunteer claimed trial at the Sessions Court here today to 38 charges of sexually assaulting and sodomising 10 male students of a tahfiz centre in the district, since last year.

Nasrul Arman Ahmad's plea was recorded after the court interpreter spent about half an hour reading out the charges to him before Magistrate Siti Aminah Ghazali.

According to the charge sheet, he was charged with committing the offense against 10 boys, aged between 12 and 17, at a tahfiz centre, here, from July 2017 to February this year.

The accused is facing 29 charges of sodomising six students at the tahfiz centre and his home in Taman Selamat, Teluk Sisek, here.

For the offense, Nasrul was charged under Section 377C of the Penal Code for sodomy and if convicted, he will face imprisonment of not less than five years and not more than 20 years, as well whipping.

The accused was also charged with nine counts under Section 14 (a) of the Sexual Offences against Children Act 2017 for sexual harassing and molesting four students of the tahfiz centre.

If convicted, the accused may be jailed for up to 20 years and liable to be whipped.

During the proceeding, Deputy Public Prosecutor Farahah Mohd Nazari requested the court not to impose a bail, saying that there was a possibility for the accused to harass the alleged victims and to abscond.

"The accused is also familiar and close to the victims. In fact, some of the victims have been threatened and warned by the accused,” she submitted.

The accused's lawyer, Datuk Syed Azimal Amir Syed Abu Bakar, then appealed to the magistrate to take bail into consideration and to set aside the terms for it.

The magistrate then offered a bail of RM380,000 for all charges with a condition which that the accused is not allowed to approach all the victims.

The court fixed April 23 for next mention.

The media reported earlier that the accused was arrested on March 12 after one of the tahfiz centre’s instructors lodged a report at the Kuantan district police headquarters. © New Straits Times Press