SEREMBAN, Nov 17 — A religious teacher was today sentenced to seven years in prison and two strokes of the cane after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old female student at a surau of a secondary school in Senawang here, three years ago.
Sessions Court Judge Datin Surita Budin also ordered Farid Azhar Nawi, 47, to undergo counselling throughout his imprisonment and be placed under police supervision for a year after serving his sentence.
However, she allowed a stay of execution of the sentence pending the disposal of the appeal, taking into account that the accused is a civil servant, set bail at RM20,000, and ordered Farid to surrender his passport to the court.
When delivering the judgment, she stated that after examining the submissions of both parties, the court found that the defence had failed to raise a reasonable doubt, and that the accused’s claim of collusion, or an attempt by the school to impose it, was purely hypothetical and unproven.
“The court takes a serious view of cases involving the sexual abuse of children, noting that the accused, as a teacher entrusted to guide the children, abused his position, causing trauma to the victim and tarnishing the reputation of both the religious teacher and the school.
“The accused should have protected and guided the students, not taken advantage of the victim, who was only 13 years old at the time of the incident,” she said.
Farid was charged with two counts, namely under Section 14(a) and Section 16(c) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, allegedly committed at about 5.30pm on August 4, 2022.
For the first offence, Surita sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment, while for the second offence, Farid was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and two strokes of the cane.
The court also ordered Farid to serve the jail sentences concurrently.
The prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Norazihah Asmuni, while Farid was represented by lawyer Nor Azleen Khairina A. Aziz. — Bernama
