JOHOR BARU: A 34-year-old religious teacher pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court here to seven charges of raping and sexually assaulting a female former student.
The accused, Mohd Zulkarnain Mohd Zin, made the plea after the charges were read to him before Judge Siti Noraida Sulaiman on Monday (Nov 25).
According to the charge sheets, the accused had raped and conducted sexual assault on the victim last year when she was 14, and again this year when the victim was 15, without the victim’s consent.
The alleged act was conducted in a storeroom of a religious school in Skudai between 3.30pm and 4.30pm between December 2023 and August this year.
The crime was framed under Section 376(2)(b) of the Penal Code for rape, which carries imprisonment not more than 20 years and whipping.
The accused is also charged under Section 14(b) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 for sexual assault, which also carries a jail term of up to 20 years, and whipping.
The case was prosecuted by Nur Farah Wahida Shahudin, while the accused was represented by lawyer Iskandar Shah Ibrahim.
During the proceeding, Nur Farah said that the offence was a non-bailable offence; however, if the court were to grant bail, she proposed bail to be set at RM60,000 for all seven charges.
She also proposed three additional terms, namely for the accused not to disturb any witnesses and the victim, to report to the nearest police station once every month, and to surrender his international passport to the court.
Iskandar Shah, in mitigation, requested a lower bail of RM30,000 as the accused is a civil servant and only earns about RM3,000 a month; the accused also has a wife who works as a clinic helper and earns about RM1,800 a month.
The court then set bail at RM35,000 along with the additional terms. The court also set Dec 30 for the case's next mention.
