00:00A 34-year-old religious teacher pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court in Johor Bahru
00:10to seven counts of raping and sexually assaulting a former student.
00:15Mohammad Zulkarnain Mohammad Zinn made the plea after the charges were read to him before
00:20Judge Siti Nuraida Sulaiman on Monday.
00:23According to the charge sheets, the accused had raped and sexually assaulted the victim
00:27last year when she was 14 and again this year when she was 15.
00:33The alleged acts were conducted in a storeroom of a religious school in Skudai between 3.30
00:38p.m. and 4.30 p.m. between December 2023 and August this year.
00:47The charge was framed under Section 376, subsection 2b of the Penal Code, which provides for imprisonment
00:54not more than 20 years and whipping.
00:58Mohammad Zulkarnain was also charged under Section 14b of the Sexual Offences Against
01:05Children Act 2017, which also carries a jail term of up to 20 years and whipping.
01:13During the proceeding, Deputy Public Prosecutor Nurfara Wahida Shahuddin said the offence
01:18was non-bailable.
01:20However, if the court were to grant bail, she proposed it to be set at 60,000 ringgit
01:25for all seven charges.
01:27She also proposed additional terms, namely, for the accused not to disturb the victim
01:33and witnesses, to report to the nearest police station once every month, and to surrender
01:38his passport to the court.
01:40Lawyer Iskandar Shah Ibrahim, representing the accused, appealed for a lower bail of
01:4530,000 ringgit, as his client is a civil servant who earns about 3,000 ringgit a month.
01:52He added that the accused also has a wife who works as a clinic helper and earns about
01:571,800 ringgit a month.
01:59The court then set bail at 35,000 ringgit along with the additional terms, and fixed
02:04December 30 for next mention.
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