KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 ― A goldsmith pleaded not guilty in a magistrate court in Kota Baru yesterday after he was charged of hitting his wife for refusing sex, with the latter claiming she was on menstruating.

In a report by Sinar Harian, the accused, 49, allegedly committed the offence against his 44-year-old wife at 7am on July 22, in a house in Pengkalan Chepa.

Under Section 375A of the Penal Code that regulates rape, the accused can be jailed for up to five years if convicted.

The man had initially pleaded guilty after he was charged, but changed his plea after hearing the explanation on mandatory jail.

It was reportedly not the first time the wife, a preschool assistant, was beaten until she was bruised and hurt.

The couple reportedly have been married for 19 years with two children, but have previously been divorced twice for the same reason.

This comes as Barisan Nasional’s Setiu MP Che Mohamad Zulkifly Jusoh said in Parliament this week that men were subjected to emotional and psychological abuse when wives withheld sex from their husbands and when they are constantly nagged at.

The remark drew flak from women’s group who insisted that he had "gravely undermined” the severity of domestic abuse cases in the country, while reminding him that forcing sex on a wife is marital rape.