A private hospital specialist has been sentenced to seven years in prison and seven strokes of the cane after being found guilty of seven charges involving physical sexual assault against an 11-year-old boy during treatment at the hospital four years ago.
Sessions Court Judge Mohd Zul Zakiqudin Zulkifli handed down the sentence after ruling that the defence had failed to raise reasonable doubt against the prosecution’s case at the end of the defence proceedings.
The accused, Dr Mohd Syafwan Mohd Soffian, 42, was found guilty of committing the offences involving the child at his clinic room in a private hospital in Kuala Terengganu between Sept 25, 2022 and April 10, 2023.
For the sixth charge, the court heard that the offence allegedly took place at the same location during the stated period, while the seventh charge involved an incident at around 8pm on Oct 9, 2022.
The offences were charged under Section 14(a) and Section 14(d) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, which carry a maximum imprisonment term of 20 years and can include whipping upon conviction.
The court sentenced the accused to five years’ imprisonment and one stroke of the cane for each of the six charges under Section 14(a), along with a two-year police supervision order.
For the remaining charge under Section 14(d) of the same Act, the accused was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, one stroke of the cane and a two-year police supervision order.
The court also ordered all prison sentences to run concurrently from the date of sentencing.
The prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutors Ahmad Hafizuddin Manjur Ahmad and Nur Azhani Azman, while the accused was represented by lawyers Ahmad Fairuz Jusoh, Ahmad Kamal Abu Bakar and Arik Zakri Abdul Kadir.
