KANGAR, May 30 ― A hostel warden was sentenced to 228 years in jail and 42 strokes of the rotan after he pleaded guilty to 25 counts of sodomy and gross indecency against five tahfiz school students last month.

Sessions Court Judge Ainul Shahrin Mohamad handed down the sentence on Nawawi Anuar, 28, yesterday and ordered him to serve the sentences from the date of arrest which was early this month.

Nawawi was sentenced to between seven and 15 years on each count of the sexual crime charges and an additional one year for an offence under Section 5 (2) of the Film Censorship Act, for possession of  pornographic videos in his phone.

The court had ordered that the sentences for 20 of the charges to run consecutively and six others to run concurrently.

Yesterday, the media reported that the Sessions Court sentenced Nawawi to 133 years in jail, but after a recount on the total number of years, the prosecution today confirmed that the accused has been sentenced to 228 years imprisonment.

The accused was charged with committing the acts against five male students aged between nine and 15 in April, at a Maahad Tahfiz centre here.

He was charged under Section 377B and 377C of the Penal Code, Section 15 (e) and Section 16 (1) of the Sex Offences Against Children Act  2017 and Section 5 (1) (a) of the Film Censorship Act 2002.

The man, however, pleaded not guilty to two charges under Section 377B of the Penal Code and a charge under Section 15 (e) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 and the court fixed July 9 for mention.

Yesterday, deputy public prosecutor, Noshuhada Mohd Yatim urged the court to impose a heavy sentence as the offences were serious and had caused trauma to the victims and their families.

National Legal Aid Foundation counsel Mohd Hapiz Rajali, representing the accused appealed for  lighter sentence on the grounds that the accused was remorseful and the acts were committed as the accused was a sexual abuse victim himself. ― Bernama