Accused of fondling and performing oral sex on countless primary school children as young as 10 for the past year.
A 40-year-old religious teacher was arrested at about 10am yesterday for allegedly molesting his male students.
The accused apparently molested a male pupil at about 2.30pm last Wednesday (July 18).
The victim informed his mother of the incident where the teacher had allegedly fondled the pupil’s private parts during a lesson in class.
“At the time of the incident, the victim was asked by the suspect to recite the al-Quran, and while the boy was standing near his table, the suspect touched the outside of his private parts.
“The victim told his mother that the teacher had resorted to similar actions since April 2017 and the latest was last Monday.
“The victim also revealed that several of his friends were also sexually assaulted by the same teacher,” Balik Pulau OCPD Supt A Anbalagan said.
He added that police received a report from the mother at about 10.16am last Saturday (July 21).
Several more pupils from the school also lodged similar police reports on Monday (July 23).
“In their reports, the pupils alleged the teacher molested them in class and in the school’s surau, with some incidents occurring after school hours.
“We arrested the suspect at the Southwest District education department office in Balik Pulau and he is being remanded for seven days until next Monday (July 30),” said Supt Anbalagan.
He also said investigation showed the suspect is married with five children.
“He has been teaching religious lessons at the school since 2014,” Anbalagan added.
It was reported that six police reports had been lodged so far by parents of children aged 10 and 11.
The case is being investigated under Section 14 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.
On condition of anonymity, a parent told a shocking tale of how the teacher had allegedly attempted to groom the children – only boys – over the months and had since become a much-feared figure in school, FMT news portal reported.
The parent, a man in his late 30s, decided to reveal this after meeting four other families at the Penang Education Department on Friday to discuss the issue.
Explaining the way the teacher allegedly worked, the parent was quoted as saying: “He would first get a pupil to call the pupil in the class that he likes, especially the small-sized boys. They will be summoned to the surau. The other teachers in session at that time would not object, as he was their class teacher.”
The teacher also targeted pupils in the sports club, claimed the parent.
“Once the marked pupil is alone in the surau, he would lock the doors and leave a window open to check if the coast was clear. He would then proceed to fondle their genitals, perform oral sex and even make the children watch porn, to get them aroused.
“The pupils are intimidated by him because of his big size,” the parent was quoted as alleging.
The parent said although the teacher did such “horrid” things, he would continue to post religious matters on his Facebook account.
Reportedly, an eight-member panel from the Penang Education Department, which heard the shocking stories from parents, decided to place the teacher on desk duty pending an internal inquiry.