BATU PAHAT: A student claimed trial to 63 charges of non-physical sexual assault including possession of child pornography videos at the magistrate's court, here recently.
The 17-year-old pleaded not guilty after the charges were read to him by an interpreter before magistrate Suhaila Shafi'uddin.
According to the first to 62nd charges, he was charged with committing non-physical sexual assault on seven students by asking the victims to show their bodies to the accused.
The act was committed at locations including the surau and school toilets as well as the victims' homes in this district, and in Kluang and Tangkak.
The victims were aged between 13 and 17.
All the incidents occurred between 10am and 11pm, starting in December last year until the end of last month.
The accused was charged under Section 15 (a) (ii) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 which provides for imprisonment of up to 10 years or a fine of RM20,000 or both, for each charge.
For the 63rd charge, he was charged with possessing child pornography videos on a laptop at 2.30am, on Nov 11 last year. He was charged under Section 10 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act and could be jailed for five years or fined up to RM10,000 or both if convicted.
According to the charge sheet, the accused became the "director" and asked the victim to perform an indecent act while recording it.
Some students were asked to perform the act up to 12 times.
After completing the act, all the victims were asked to hand over the video recordings.
The victim had complained to the school management about the matter but no action was taken.
If the victim refused to follow the accused instructions, the victim was allegedly threatened with extortion or to have the video circulated.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Farah Wahidah Mohd Sharip prosecuted while the accused was represented by lawyer Mohd Razak Shariff.
The court set Dec 11 for case mention and submission of documents.
The court allowed the accused bail of RM5,000 with one surety and set conditions that he could not disturb witnesses or the victim until the case was resolved.