Former lecturer charged with sexual assault against step-granddaughter

Kota Kinabalu: A 69-year-old former lecturer was charged at the Sessions Court here Thursday with committing physical sexual offence against his eight-year-old step-granddaughter.

The man pleaded not guilty before Judge Noor Hafizah Mohd Salim to committing the offence between 2017 and 2019 in a house of a village in Penampang.

The accused was charged under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences against Children Act 2017 read with Section 16(1) of the same Act as he was in a relationship of trust with the child.

Section 14(a) of the Act carries a jail term of up to 20 years and liability of a fine on conviction while Section 16(1) of the same Act provides for a jail term of up to five years and whipping of not less than two strokes, if convicted.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Megat Mahathir Megat Tharih Affendy proposed bail at RM20,000 in two sureties with a condition that the accused to report himself to the police station once a month and not to tamper with the prosecution.

Counsel Mohd Syazwan Shah Mohd Ali representing the accused, requested for a lower bail on the grounds that the accused was no longer working but he used to work as a lecturer but had been retrenched due to Covid-19.

Syazwan also informed the court that the accused suffered several ailments such as asthma, high blood pressure and gout and also applied for one surety because only the accused's wife was present in court on Thursday.

Noor Hafizah set pre-trial case management on March 23 and offered the accused bail at RM10,000 with RM5,000 deposited with his wife as surety.

The court also ordered the man to report himself to the police station once a month and reminded the man not to communicate or tamper with the prosecution's witness or else his bail would be revoked.

Meanwhile, in the case of a 35-year-old typist, who was charged with cheating 127 people of RM5,334 over purported letters addressed to a former Deputy Home Minister to support their application to obtain “entry permit” and to convert IMM13 documents to MyPR, has been rescheduled to March 16.

Thursday was supposedly for Rohani Mohd Ismail's pre-trial case management at the Magistrate's Court. 

Rohani allegedly committed the offence at 2.30pm on Nov 22, 2018 at the Areney Enterprise, Jalan Haji Yaakob in Kg Air here.

The charge stated that Rohani allegedly typed 127 letters addressed to former Deputy Home Minister Datuk Azis Jamman to apply for support to approve entry permit registrations and MyPR cards.

The charge also stated that Rohani allegedly deceived the people by making them to believe that such application letter could convert IMM13 document to MyPR which induced the alleged victims to pay her RM42 for each application.

According to the charge, Rohani allegedly obtained a total of RM5,334 from the 127 people on that day.

The charge under Section 420 of the Penal Code provides for a jail term of between one and 10 years, and whipping and fine, upon conviction.