Appeal court imposes 20-year sentence on headmaster for child sex offences

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 28 — The Court of Appeal today sentenced a headmaster to 20 years in jail and 11 strokes of the cane for making pornography and committing physical sexual assault against a standard six student five years ago.

A three-judge panel, chaired by Justice Datuk Noorin Badaruddin alongside Justices Datuk Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid and Datuk Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid, dismissed Anuar Kintan’s appeal against his conviction and sentence of nine years and eight strokes of the cane imposed by the High Court for the charge of making pornography.

The panel, however, allowed the prosecution’s appeal to overturn the lower court’s decisions to acquit and discharge Anuar on the second charge of physical sexual assault against the victim, who was 12 years old at the time.

The court subsequently convicted him of the charge, sentencing him to 11 years with three strokes of the cane.

Justice Noorin, who delivered the unanimous decision, ordered the sentences to be served consecutively. She also issued a warrant of committal for Anuar, 59, to begin his sentence today. He had previously obtained a stay of execution of the sentence and was released on bail of RM14,000 with one surety pending disposal of his appeal.

The court, meanwhile, upheld the lower court’s decision to acquit and discharge Anuar on the third and fourth charges, which involved physical sexual assault on the girl and uttering words intended to be heard by the victim for sexual purposes.

Justice Noorin said the victim had given direct testimony identifying the accused as the person who took the photographs, and that her testimony had been considered by the Sessions Court judge who accepted it.

She said the existence of the photographs was not an isolated circumstance, but was supported by forensic examination that identified the images in Anuar’s Realme mobile phone.

On the second charge, Justice Noorin said the court disagreed that the alibi evidence presented by Anuar had raised reasonable doubt.

The defence had put forward an alibi in which Anuar’s wife testified that he was at home with her, and not at the school, when the incident occurred.

Justice Noorin said the testimony of the victim’s friend provided material support for the prosecution’s case regarding the accused’s presence at the school on April 3, 2021, and his movements with the victim. Therefore, the alibi evidence presented by the accused did not raise reasonable doubt.

On April 19, 2024, the Sessions Court found Anuar guilty of the first offence for making pornography by taking photos of the victim and sentenced him to three years in jail and two strokes of the cane.

The Sessions Court also sentenced him to an additional one year’s imprisonment and two strokes of the cane under Section 16 (1) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017. The section provides for punishment if an offender commits a sexual crime while holding a position of trust over a child. The sentences were to run consecutively.

The Sessions Court, however, acquitted him of the second, third and fourth charges.

The High Court on Aug 15 last year increased the prison sentence for the first charge to nine years’ imprisonment and eight strokes of the cane and upheld his acquittal for the other three charges.

The offences were committed at a school in Perak in the middle of March 2021 and on April 3, 2021.

At the proceedings today, Anuar was represented by lawyer Amir Khusyairi Mohamad Tanusi while Deputy Public Prosecutors Azlina Mahmod and P. Sarulatha appeared for the prosecution. — Bernama

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布城，10月28日讯——上诉法院今日判处一名校长20年监禁和11下鞭刑，罪名是五年前制作色情制品并对一名六年级学生实施性侵犯。

由法官拿督诺林·巴达鲁丁担任主席，法官拿督莫哈末·拉兹·阿卜杜勒·哈米德和拿督梅奥尔·哈希米·阿卜杜勒·哈米德组成的三人法官小组驳回了安努亚·金坦对高等法院判处其制作色情制品罪名成立并处以九年监禁和八下鞭刑的上诉。

然而，该小组允许检方上诉，推翻了下级法院对阿努尔的第二项指控——对当时年仅 12 岁的受害者实施性侵犯——的无罪释放决定。

法院随后认定他犯有该罪行，判处他 11 年监禁并处以三下鞭刑。

努林法官作出一致判决，裁定所有刑期合并执行。她还签发了对59岁的阿努尔的拘押令，要求其于今日开始服刑。此前，阿努尔已获得暂缓执行令，并以14000令吉的保释金和一名担保人获释，等待上诉结果。

与此同时，法院维持了下级法院的判决，驳回了对阿努尔的第三项和第四项指控，这两项指控涉及对女孩进行身体性侵犯以及发表意图让受害者听到的性暗示言论。

努林法官表示，受害者提供了直接证词，指认被告是拍摄照片的人，而且地方法院法官已经考虑了她的证词并接受了该证词。

她说，这些照片的存在并非孤立事件，而是得到了法医鉴定的支持，法医鉴定确认了这些图像来自安努尔的 Realme 手机。

关于第二项指控，努林法官表示，法院不同意阿努尔提供的不在场证明证据足以引起合理怀疑。

辩方提出了不在场证明，安努尔的妻子作证说，事发时安努尔和她待在家里，而不是在学校。

努林法官表示，受害者朋友的证词为检方关于被告于2021年4月3日出现在学校以及与受害者同行的指控提供了实质性支持。因此，被告提供的不在场证明不足以构成合理怀疑。

2024 年 4 月 19 日，地方法院认定阿努尔犯有拍摄受害者照片制作色情制品的初犯罪，判处其三年监禁和两下鞭刑。

地方法院还根据2017年《性侵儿童法》第16(1)条判处他额外一年监禁和两下鞭刑。该条款规定，如果犯罪者在对儿童负有信任责任的情况下实施性犯罪，应受到处罚。所有刑期均连续执行。

然而，地方法院宣告他第二、第三和第四项指控不成立。

去年 8 月 15 日，高等法院将第一项指控的刑期增加到九年监禁和八下鞭刑，并维持了对其他三项指控的无罪判决。

这些罪行发生在 2021 年 3 月中旬和 2021 年 4 月 3 日，地点是霹雳州的一所学校。

在今天的庭审中，被告阿努尔的代理律师是阿米尔·库斯亚里·穆罕默德·塔努西，而副检察官阿兹丽娜·马赫穆德和P·萨鲁拉塔则代表控方出庭。——马新社

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