KUALA LUMPUR: A tailor pleaded not guilty in the Ampang Sessions Court today to a charge of outraging the modesty of a teenage girl with a disability last month.
Muhammad Arif Zulfakar Abdul Razak, 25, is accused of committing the offence against the 17-year-old girl in the restroom of a vocational training centre in Taman Keramat, here, around 6.30 pm in early May.
He was charged under Section 354 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment, or a fine, or caning, or any combination of the two, upon conviction.
Deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Norhidayah Abdullah Sani requested bail of RM6,000 with additional conditions that the accused be prohibited from approaching the victim or tampering with prosecution witnesses.
The accused’s lawyer, Lingswaran Singh, applied for minimal bail, citing his client’s employment as a tailor and responsibility as the family’s sole breadwinner.
Judge Nurulizwan Ahmad Zubir allowed the accused to be released on bail of RM4,000 with the additional conditions requested by the prosecution and fixed July 21 for case mention.
In the same court, technician Ahmad Nizar Ahmad Aminudin, 51, pleaded not guilty to threatening a 46-year-old man with a knife at a restaurant in front of a flat in Taman Dato Ahmad Razali on May 28.
He was charged under Section 506 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment, or a fine, or both, upon conviction.
DPP Norhidayah proposed a bail of RM5,000 with one surety. However, the accused’s lawyer, Vinobha Doss from the National Legal Aid Foundation, requested a lower bail on the grounds that his client is the sole breadwinner of his family.
The court granted bail at RM3,000 with one surety and fixed July 10 for case mention.
