Court allows bail for tahfiz principal charged with sexual assault againt students

IPOH: The Ipoh High Court has allowed bail for a former Maahad Tahfiz principal who was charged with 15 counts of committing physical and non-physical sexual assault against five of his students last year.

Justice Datuk Abdul Wahab Mohamed set bail at RM20,000 with one surety for the accused, Azizul Yahya, 30, after an appeal.

Abdul Wahab also ordered Azizul to report to the Batu Gajah police station by the third of each month, starting from April until his trial is completed.

“The accused also cannot be within one km from the children related to the case. He is also required to surrender his passport to the Sessions Court,” Abdul Wahab said on Monday (March 7).

“If he violates the terms, his bail will be revoked and he will be detained again,” he said, before setting Apr 29 for re-mention.

Azizul had claimed trial to all 15 charges under Section 14 (a), Section 14 (b), Section 14 (d) and Section 15 (e) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 at the Sessions Court here in January.

The offences included performing physical sexual assaults against the victims, including kissing, forcing the victims to perform oral sex on him, caressing the victims’ private parts and for committing non-physical sexual assault by showing a pornographic video to a student.

He was alleged to have committed the offences on his students, aged between 12 and 15, at a Maahad Tahfiz in Batu Gajah between February and October last year between 2am and 5.30pm.

The Sessions Court did not set bail then.