MUAR: A part-time football coach was charged at the magistrate's court with committing sexual abuse against three male students of a secondary school here, in February.
The accused, Muhammad Fikri Mohd Yazid, 27, who faced four charges, however, pleaded not guilty after all the charges were read before Magistrate Nurfarah Syahidah Mohd Noh.
He was accused of committing the acts against the three students aged 14 and 15 at a house, near Jalan Temenggong Ahmad, between 7am and 10am on Feb 5.
The accused was charged under Section 14 (a) and (b) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, and may be punished under Section 14 and read together with Section 16 (1) of the same act.
Section 14 provides for imprisonment not exceeding 20 years and may also be liable to whipping, while Section 16 provides for imprisonment not exceeding five years and also whipping not less than twice.
Based on the victims' reports, the accused allegedly invited his students to come to his house under the pretext of measuring football jerseys.
All the victims are football players representing the school, while the accused, who is also a burger seller, was their part-time coach.
On the day of the incident, the accused did not intend to measure jerseys but rather intended to take advantage of all three victims.
Unable to tolerate the man's actions, the victims reported the matter to the counselling teacher before filing a police report.
The prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Danial Munir while the accused was not represented.
Earlier, the court did not offer bail to the accused as it is under the jurisdiction of the Sessions Court.
The court then scheduled a further mention of the case on April 18 for document submission and appointment of a lawyer.