A FORMER trainee teacher was sent to prison today for six years, after he lost his appeal at the Court of Appeal to set aside his conviction for sodomising a standard six pupil in 2016.

Mohamad Harman Faiz Hassin, 30, who was on a RM22,000 bail in one surety pending disposal of his appeal, was also ordered to be whipped twice.

A three-man bench, led by Justice Kamaludin Md Said, unanimously dismissed Harman’s appeal, saying the Sessions Court had made the correct findings based on the evidence.

However, Kamaludin allowed Harman’s appeal to reduce his prison term from 10 to six years.

He said the court agreed Harman was young when he committed the offence and was a first offender.

Kamaludin also said the reduction would also take into account time spent on remand. The appellate court – which also comprised Judge Ahmad Nasfy Yasin and Judge Azizul Azmi Adnan – also set aside an order for Harman to be subject to two years of police supervision after he completed his prison term.

On March 5, 2019, the Sessions Court found Harman guilty of sodomising a male student who was 12 years old at the time, and sentenced him to 14 years in prison and six strokes of the rotan. Harman had been accused of committing the offence in a room at the Teachers Training Institute hostel, in Besut, Terengganu, at 1pm on September 17, 2016.

He lost his appeal against conviction in the High Court but succeeded in reducing his prison term to 10 years and two strokes. He then filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal.

Lawyer Jasbeer Singh Kaura, who represented Harman, told the media that his client had served about 14 weeks in prison.

Deputy public prosecutor Fauziah Daud appeared for the prosecution. – Bernama, August 24, 2022.