IPOH, September 18 — A former maahad tahfiz school teacher was discharged and acquitted by the Sessions Court here on two charges of sexual assault involving a 13-year-old male student in 2020.
Judge Jean Sharmila Jesudason ordered the release of Muhammad Ikbal Izzuddin Abd Rahman, 29, after ruling that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case at the close of its proceedings.
“The court has examined the facts of the case in proving the elements of the charges for both counts and has made a thorough assessment of the evidence presented by the prosecution.
“There are contradictions, inconsistencies, and gaps in the prosecution’s case which were not clarified either through police investigation or witness testimonies. This raised reasonable doubt in the court.
“The prosecution has failed to establish a prima facie case against the accused. Hence, the court orders that the accused be acquitted and discharged without being called to enter his defence for both charges,” she said in her brief judgement.
Jean Sharmila noted that the prosecution had called 10 witnesses, including the victim, the victim’s mother, a friend of the complainant, a religious school teacher and the investigation officer.
She also ordered the bail money to be returned to the accused.
Muhammad Ikbal was represented by lawyers Aliff Aiman Rusli and Izzat Fakhri Halimi while deputy public prosecutor Nor Arfahanim Azureen Arfanuddin prosecuted.
In June 2020, Muhammad Ikbal, who was then 24, was charged in the Session Court here with sexual assaulting a male student, who was then 13.
At that time, Muhammad Ikbal was working as an Al-Quran teacher and hostel warden at a maahad tahfiz school in Taman Meru here.
He was accused of hugging, kissing and rubbing his genitals on the victim’s buttocks at the school in February 2020 at around 3am.
He was charged under Section 14(a) and 14(d) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.
