Salesman charged with physical sexual assault on girl

KUALA LUMPUR: A salesman was charged in the Ampang Sessions Court here yesterday with three counts of sexually assaulting and producing pornographic pictures of a teenage girl he befriended on Instagram.

Anthony John Vadaniagam, 19, however, pleaded not guilty to all three charges before judge Azrul Darus.

He was charged with two counts of committing physical sexual assault on the girl, aged 15, by hugging and kissing her, and on another count with producing a pornographic image of her at a condominium in Bandar Baru Ampang between 12.30 pm and 12.50 pm last June.

The charge on physical sexual assault was framed under 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, which provides an imprisonment for up to 20 years and is liable to whipping, if found guilty.

On the charge of producing pornographic image, Vadaniagam was charged under Section 5 of the same law and faced an imprisonment for up to 30 years and minimum six whipping, if found guilty.

He was also charged before Magistrate Normaizan Rahim with possession of nude photographs of the girl at the same place between June and Oct 12 this year, to which he also pleaded not guilty.

The charge, under Section 292 of the Penal Code, provides an imprisonment for up to three years, or fine, or both, if found guilty.

He was allowed bail of RM15,000 with two sureties for all charges and the court set Dec 3 for mention.