KUCHING, Aug 15 — The High Court here yesterday dismissed the appeal of a boarding school counselling teacher convicted of sexually assaulting six male students, but ordered his prison terms to run concurrently for a total of 15 years.
Judicial Commissioner Datuk Faridz Gohim Abdullah made the decision after dismissing the appeal of the 35-year-old appellant to set aside the sentence and conviction handed down by the Sessions Court on Oct 21, 2022.
The original consecutive sentence against the 35-year-old appellant totalled 90 years, with each charge carrying 15 years’ imprisonment.
However, the court upheld the 24 strokes of the cane imposed by the lower court.
All the six charges were framed under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, which is punishable under Section 14 of the same Act and read together with Section 16 of the same Act, which provides for a jail term of up to 20 years and possible caning upon conviction.
According to the facts of the case, between 11.30pm and 4am in March, April, and May 2018, the teacher sexually assaulted the students, aged between 14 and 16, at separate times and dates in the school compound.
He touched the victims’ private parts and thighs, as well as hugged one of them.
Police reports were lodged by all the victims and investigations revealed that several of them had been assaulted on multiple occasions.
Deputy public prosecutor Nor Azhari Yusof appeared for the prosecution. — The Borneo Post
