SHAH ALAM: A taekwondo instructor was today hauled to the Sessions Court here, to face five counts of physical sexual assault on five girls aged between seven and 11 in September and October this year.
Dressed in a red shirt and a pair of black pants, Ahmad Munir Zainuddin, 20, arrived at the court compound at 8.50am escorted by the Shah Alam district police headquarters Criminal Investigation Department's All Black Team.
Munir, a private college student, claimed trial to all charges framed under Section 14(a) and (b) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 read before Sessions Court Judge Rasyihah Ghazali.
He was accused of committing the acts for sexual purposes on five separate occasions in September and October this year at a hall.
According to the charge sheets, he had allegedly assaulted the girls by touching their private parts, thigh and buttocks.
One of the charge sheets read that he had pulled a seven-year-old girl's hand to touch his private parts.
Each offence carries a maximum jail term of 20 years and whipping upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor Siti Nabilah Abd Rashid urged the court to impose RM12,000 bail for each charge.
During mitigation, defence counsel 'Adil Safwan Ahmad Shaffie asked for lower bail, adding that his client was still a student and worked as a part time taekwondo instructor.
Rasyihah fixed RM6,000 bail for each charge and set Dec 14 for mention.
She also ordered the accused not to harass the victims, report to the police station on the first of every month and surrender his passport to the court.
It was previously reported that the Shah Alam police had on Nov 2 received the first physical sexual assault report from the mother of a nine-year-old girl.
The report stated that the girl was sexually assaulted by the suspect in the toilet at a martial arts centre.
The suspect claimed that he had brought the girl to the toilet to adjust her taekwondo belt.
There were three other reports linked to the accused and his acts before he was arrested on Nov 2 at about 4pm and subsequently remanded.
On Tuesday, another similar report was made against the suspect.