9 hours ago
Court of Appeal upholds headmaster's acquittal in child sex assault case
The Court of Appeal acquitted Zainuren Mohamed of sexual assault after holding that the rulings of the sessions court and High Court were premised on facts established at the trial.
PUTRAJAYA : The Court of Appeal has upheld the acquittal of a former headmaster accused of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old pupil seven years ago, ruling that doubts expressed by the lower courts about the boy's version of events were well-founded.
A three-judge panel led by Justice Hashim Hamzah, who sat with Justices Zaini Mazlan and Hayati Akmal Abdul Aziz, dismissed the prosecution's final appeal against a High Court ruling which had cleared Zainuren Mohamed, 58, of the charge.
The judges agreed that there was no error in the lower courts' findings, where both the sessions and High Court judges had noted serious gaps and contradictions in the case.
Zainuren, originally charged with four counts of assault involving boys aged 11 to 14, was only tried on one count after prosecutors dropped the three other charges in 2021.
He was acquitted by the sessions court in 2022, a decision affirmed by the High Court in July 2023.
His lawyer, E Gnanasegaran, said the Court of Appeal affirmed all the key points made in the earlier rulings.
'Our submission and the Court of Appeal's findings show that the trial court was right to find the boy's story not credible. This was later confirmed by the High Court.
'There were material gaps between the boy's and his mother's evidence, and the court rightly found that the two teachers who testified were also not credible,' he said.
Gnanasegaran said the contradictions in testimony, including from the boy who later said that no assault had taken place, raised real doubts over whether the incident ever occurred.
In its appeal, the prosecution argued that the trial judge was wrong to treat the inconsistencies as material, saying they stemmed from long cross-examinations.
The appellate court disagreed, ruling that the trial judge had taken care to ensure that the boy could give evidence comfortably.
'There was no misdirection by either court and (their rulings) were well within the facts adduced in court. Hence, we dismiss this appeal,' Hashim said in his ruling.
Audrey Wee also appeared for Zainuren while deputy public prosecutor Eyu Ghim Siang appeared for the prosecution.
