KUANTAN, March 22 — A 41-year-old volunteer at a tahfiz centre here claimed trial at the Sessions Court here today to 38 sexual crime charges including sodomy.
Nasrul Arman Ahmad’s plea was recorded after the court interpreter spent about half an hour reading out the charges to him.
Twenty-nine of the charges allegedly involved sodomy and carnal intercourse against the order of nature on six students, and nine charges, for sexual harassment involving four students of the religious education centre. The alleged victims are aged between 12 and 17 years.
The slightly-built learning centre assistant is accused of committing the offences at his house in Taman Selamat, Jalan Teluk Sisek here, and at the centre, around evening and early morning between July 2017 and February this year.
During the proceeding today, deputy public prosecutor Farahah Mohd Nazari objected to bail telling the court 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.
However, Nasrul Arman’s lawyer Datuk Syed Azimal Amir Syed Abu Bakar brushed aside the DPP’s presumptions and urged the court to allow bail.
“It would not be fair to deny bail for the accused as a person cannot be regarded as guilty until proven so,” counsel submitted.
Judge Siti Aminah Ghazali granted bail of RM380,000 with one surety for all the charges and imposed an additional condition restraining the accused who kept his head bowed throughout, from approaching the alleged victims.
The court fixed April 23 for next mention.
Meanwhile, family members of the accused in the public gallery upon grasping the amount of bail set by the judge, started sobbing. At the time of writing, the accused has yet to post bail. — Bernama
