The Court of Appeal has sentenced a 59-year-old headmaster, Anuar Kintan, to 20 years in prison and 11 strokes of the cane for producing pornographic material and physically sexually assaulting a Year Six pupil five years ago.
A three-judge panel led by Justice Datuk Noorin Badaruddin, alongside Datuk Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid and Datuk Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid, dismissed Anuar’s appeal against his conviction for producing pornographic material.
The panel also overturned the Sessions Court’s decision to acquit and discharge him of the charge of physically sexually assaulting the 12-year-old pupil.
The court subsequently convicted Anuar on that charge and sentenced him to 11 years in prison and three strokes of the cane.
In delivering the unanimous decision, Noorin ordered the prison terms to run consecutively and issued a warrant for Anuar’s imprisonment, requiring him to begin serving his sentence immediately.
Anuar had previously been granted a stay of execution and released on RM14,000 bail with one surety while awaiting the outcome of his appeal.
However, the Court of Appeal upheld his acquittal on the third and fourth charges, which involved another count of physically sexually assaulting the girl and uttering words intended to be heard by her for sexual purposes.
Noorin said the victim had directly identified Anuar as the person who took the photographs. Her testimony had been considered by the Sessions Court judge, who accepted the evidence.
The existence of the photographs was also supported by forensic examinations, which identified the images on Anuar’s Realme mobile phone.
On the second charge, Noorin said the court rejected the argument that the alibi presented by Anuar had raised reasonable doubt.
The defence had relied on testimony from Anuar’s wife, who claimed he was at home with her rather than at school when the incident occurred.
However, Noorin said evidence from the victim’s friend materially supported the prosecution’s case that Anuar was at the school on April 3, 2021, and had moved around with the victim. The court therefore found that the alibi did not raise reasonable doubt.
On April 19, 2024, the Sessions Court convicted Anuar on the first charge of producing pornographic material by taking photographs of the victim. He was sentenced to three years in prison and two strokes of the cane.
The court also imposed an additional one-year prison term and two strokes under Section 16(1) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, with both prison terms ordered to run concurrently.
However, Anuar was acquitted and discharged of the second, third and fourth charges at that stage.
On Aug 15 last year, the High Court increased his sentence for the first charge to nine years in prison and eight strokes of the cane, while upholding his acquittal on the other three charges.
The offences took place at a school in Perak in mid-March 2021 and on April 3, 2021.
Anuar was represented by lawyer Amir Khusyairi Mohamad Tanusi during the latest proceedings, while deputy public prosecutors Azlina Mahmod and P. Sarulatha appeared for the prosecution.
