KUCHING: A primary school teacher was acquitted and released by the Sessions Court here on three charges of committing sexual acts against two male students and a female student, two years ago.
Judge Maris Agan made the decision on Tuesday (May 17) after finding that the prosecution had failed to prove a prima facie case against the 39-year-old accused.
The order was made when the case was submitted for decision at the end of the prosecution case.
During the trial which began on Aug 5 last year and ended on March 22, a total of nine witnesses were called and six of them were defense witnesses.
According to the first charge, he allegedly pulled the genitals of a male student for sexual purposes. Meanwhile, in the second charge, he was charged with kissing the mouth and pulling the genitals of another male student.
For the said two charges, the accused was charged with committing the act in a classroom at a government primary school in Jalan Semarak, around 9am to 10am, Jan 14, 2020.
Meanwhile, the third charge, at the same place, on Jan19, 2020, at about 9am to 10am, he allegedly touched the breasts of a female student for sexual purposes.
All the victims were 12 years old and all three charges were charged in accordance with Section 14 (a) of the Child Sexual Offenses Act 2017 and read together with Section 16 of the same Act.
The case was prosecuted by deputy public prosecutor Md Syafique Md Hilmie while the accused was represented by two lawyers, Gerald Empaling Donald and Steven Beti.
