MELAKA: Police arrested a 73-year-old man for allegedly sexually abusing two primary school girls in Semabok here.
Melaka police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Dzulkhairi Mukhtar said the elderly suspect, a bachelor, lured the victims with RM5 and packets of fried noodles before taking them into a mosque's storeroom, where he allegedly molested them.
He said the victims, aged eight and 10, later shared their ordeals with their school's counselling teacher, claiming they had been molested by a congregant of the mosque near their school.
DCP Dzulkhairi said Investigations found that the suspect repeatedly committed the immoral acts against both victims over a period of about two weeks beginning on June 16.
"The incidents occurred while the girls were waiting near the mosque for their parents or guardians to pick them up after school,” he told a press conference at the Melaka police headquarters in Bukit Beruang on Thursday (June 25).
DCP Dzulkhairi said the victims' guardians lodged police reports on Wednesday (June 24), leading to the suspect's arrest.
"The suspect has been remanded for seven days from today to assist investigations under the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017," he added.
