Court reinstates ex-religious teacher's sentences for physical sexual assault

The Court of Appeal today reinstated the 13-year prison sentence imposed on a former religious teacher of a tahfiz and orphanage centre for physically sexually assaulting a male student five years ago.

A three-judge panel led by Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim also restored the caning sentence of three strokes of the cane that was imposed by the Sessions Court on Mohd Faiza Rizza Mohd Ropi.

The 38-year-old, now a pump attendant at a petrol station, had been acquitted and discharged of the charge by the High Court after successfully appealing his conviction, which led to the prosecution's appeal to overturn his acquittal.

The panel also ordered that Faiza’s time spent in prison, following his unsuccessful attempt to obtain a stay of execution of his sentence pending disposal of his appeal in the High Court, should be included in his total sentence.

Other panel judges Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Azmi Ariffin also restored the Sessions Court’s order for Faiza to undergo counselling during his imprisonment and be placed under police supervision for two years after completing his time.

Azmi, when delivering the court’s unanimous decision, said the prosecution had successfully proven all the elements of the charge under Section 14 (a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.

He said the court disagreed with the Judicial Commissioner’s earlier findings that the charge against Faiza should have been brought under Section 14 (d) of the same law.

He also said the court found no contradictions in the victim’s testimony and Faiza’s police report.

Azmi said Faiza’s police report, filed two years after he was charged in court claiming the victim falsely accused him, was an afterthought and a fabrication.

Faiza was convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison and three strokes of the cane by the Sessions Court on Nov 26, 2021, for physical sexual assault on the student, who was 17 years old, in the warden’s room of a tahfiz and orphanage hostel in Temerloh, Pahang, at 2am on June 2019.

On May 11, 2023, the High Court overturned the Sessions Court’s ruling and acquitted and discharged Faiza. The prosecution subsequently appealed to the Court of Appeal.

Deputy public prosecutor P Sarulatha appeared for the prosecution while lawyers Shashi Devan and Muhammad Nazreen Jaafar Abdullah represented Faiza.

- Bernama

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