KUCHING: A school counsellor was sentenced to 90 years imprisonment and 24 strokes of cane by the Sessions Court today after pleading guilty to six charges for sexually assaulting his male students in 2018.
The 32-year-old from Sabah was sentenced by Sessions Court Judge Afidah Abdul Rahman after the accused had failed to explain his reasons at the end of the court.
According to the judge, the excuse given by the accused was that he was not at the scene as allegedly brought up by the victims. However, there was no alibi to prove his defense to the court
Following six charges, the accused was found touching physical parts, touching and sexually assaulting six students from age 14 to 16.
According to the facts sheets, the accused was charged under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children 2017 and punishable under Section 14 of the same act and was read together with Section 16 of the same act for physically assaulting male students in the college’s hostels, teacher’s quarters and male dorms between March, May and April 2018.
The accused was subsequently sentenced to jail term of 20 years and a cane. However, the judge has sentenced the accused to 15 years and four strokes of the cane which will run consecutively.
The court has taken into account that the accused have paid bail of RM34,000 on two counts for every charge faced.
The prosecution had called 18 witnesses to testify for the case while the defence had called 10 witnesses.
Lawyer Chua Kuan Ching and Eirene Chan were present throughout the case representing the student’s parents.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohammad Aiman Mutallib Mohammad Shariff prosecuted while the accused was represented by counsel Hani Iryani Bonny.
