Serian school staff pleads not guilty to sexually assaulting 6 students with disabilities

File photo for illustration purposes only. Photo: Pixabay

By Dorcas Ting

KUCHING, Dec 1: A student management assistant at a special education school in Serian pleaded not guilty when charged in the Kota Samarahan Sessions Court today with six counts of committing sexual offences against six students with disabilities (OKU).

Judge Shafiza Datu Abdul Razak Tready ordered the 43-year-old man to be released on RM8,000 bail with two local sureties for each charge. The case management is set for Jan 8, 2024.

The accused faces six charges, all under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act (SOACA) 2017, punishable under Section 14 and read together with Section 16 of the same Act.

Section 14 of SOACA 2017 stipulates a maximum imprisonment of 20 years and caning, while Section 16 carries a maximum imprisonment of five years and a minimum of two strokes if convicted.

According to all charges, the man is accused of sexually assaulting four female and two male students aged between 11 and 14 in separate incidents between March and November this year at a special education school in Serian.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohamad Aiman Mutallib Mohamad Shariff handled the prosecution, while the accused did not have legal representation.

In a separate case, a supervising teacher at a secondary school in Serian was released on police bail after the judge rejected a request for the suspect’s remand extension today.

The 48-year-old suspect was remanded from Nov 23 to Dec 1 to assist in the investigation of sexual offences at the school involving three male students aged between 14 and 15.

The suspect was represented by lawyers Shankar Ram and Yu Ying Ying. — DayakDaily