A former madrasah headmaster was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment and 24 strokes of the rotan in the Muar sessions court today for sexual assault of six schoolboys, aged 12 to 13, three years ago.
Abdul Hadi Harun, 37, a widower, pleaded guilty to a total of 16 charges, Harian Metro reported.
According to the charges, he committed the offences at 3am, 7am and 10.30pm between May and June 29 that year at the school toilet and the bathroom of a house in Batu Pahat.
He was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on each charge of sexual assault of a child, and two additional years and two strokes of the rotan for abusing a position of trust in committing the offences.
All jail sentences will run concurrently, meaning he will serve seven years’ jail, and suffer 24 strokes of the rotan, the maximum set by law.
The court was told that Hadi was arrested at 9.30pm on June 30, 2022 after the madrasah’s management lodged a report.
Police learned that he had threatened the boys not to tell anyone about the sexual assaults.
The prosecution was handled by deputy public prosecutor Diyana Najihah Fauzi, while Hadi was represented by lawyer Razak Shariff.
