EX-BOWLING COACH’S SIX-YEAR SENTENCE FOR SEXUALLY ASSAULTING TEEN UPHELD

PUTRAJAYA, March 11 (Bernama) -- The Court of Appeal today upheld the six-year prison sentence imposed on a former bowling coach convicted of sexually assaulting a former Malaysia Games (SUKMA) athlete eight years ago.

A three-member bench comprising Justices Datuk Azman Abdullah, Datuk Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz and Datuk Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid dismissed Mat Salleh Jalani’s appeal against his conviction and sentence.

Azman, in delivering the court’s unanimous decision, said the victim had no reason to fabricate evidence regarding the appellant’s actions.

He said the six-year imprisonment and two-year police supervision imposed by the Sessions Court were upheld to serve as a form of awareness to both the appellant and the public against taking advantage of children.

On May 16, 2024, the Sessions Court in Kuala Terengganu sentenced Mat Salleh, 62, to six years’ imprisonment after finding him guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage boy, who was 14 years and one month old at the time, in a residential area in Marang, Terengganu in March 2018.

The Sessions Court also ordered Mat Salleh to undergo police supervision for two years after completing his prison sentence.

On April 22 last year, the High Court dismissed his appeal and upheld his conviction and sentence.

Mat Salleh subsequently appealed to the Court of Appeal.

In today’s proceedings, lawyer Muhammad Abdul Rahman Ab Razak represented Mat Salleh while Deputy Public Prosecutor Atiqah Abdul Karim @ Husaini appeared for the prosecution.

-- BERNAMA