Army sergeant pleads not guilty to raping 13-year-old girl in Melaka
Army sergeant Zulfikar Ishak is accused of raping the girl when she was 12 years and six months old. (Facebook pic)
PETALING JAYA : An army sergeant was charged in the Ayer Keroh sessions court in Melaka today with five counts of rape, sexual assault and child grooming of a 13-year-old girl earlier this month.
Zulfikar Ishak, 32, pleaded not guilty after the charges were read to him before judge Haderiah Siri, Berita Harian reported.
On the first charge, the father of one is accused of raping the girl when she was 12 years and six months old. On the second and third charges, he is accused of sexually assaulting her.
The rape charge falls under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code, which provides for up to 20 years' imprisonment and whipping, if convicted.
The sexual assault charges are under Section 14(a) and 14(b) of the Sexual Offences against Children Act (SOAC) 2017, which also provides for up to 20 years' imprisonment and whipping.
On the fourth charge, Zulfikar is accused of grooming the girl via telephone communications to encourage her to do sexual activities, an offence under Section 12 of the SOAC punishable with up to five years' imprisonment and whipping.
On the fifth charge, he is accused under Section 13 of the SOAC of meeting the victim after grooming her, having driven the girl out of her hostel in his car, an offence punishable with up to 10 years' imprisonment and whipping.
All the offences were committed in a car at the parking lot of a supermarket in Cheng, Melaka, at about 1pm on on May 4
The prosecution was led by deputy public prosecutor Wardah Ishhar, while SS Amritpal Singh represented the accused.
The prosecution proposed bail of RM90,000 on all the charges and the additional conditions that Zulfikar report to a police station once a month and not disturb the victim, her family or prosecution witnesses.
Amritpal pleaded for the minimum bail, saying Zulfikar had served in the army for 10 years and was unlikely to flee, and that he was the sole breadwinner of his family.
The court set bail at RM25,000 and granted the additional conditions requested by the prosecution. It set June 26 for re-mention of the case and the handover of documents.
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