Court upholds acquittal of man accused of recording student in shower

SEREMBAN:

A man accused of recording a university student while she was bathing has been acquitted of the charge as the woman apparently was not wearing contact lenses then and could not identify him.

High Court judge Kamaludin Md Said said the court had no reason to doubt the findings of a lower court, which had in August last year freed building technician Mohd Aidris Yahya, 38, of the alleged crime.

Mohd Aidris was charged with allegedly using a mobile phone to record the 21-year-old having her shower at the Rakan Muda Sports Complex along Jalan Melang, at around 7.15am on Aug 24, 2015.

He was charged under Section 509 of the Penal Code which carries a maximum five years’ jail or a fine or both upon conviction.

In his submission, Haresh Mahadevan, counsel for the accused, said his client was a victim of mistaken identity.

He said the student, had incorrectly stated the colour of the victim’s clothes and the handphone used in the alleged crime.

“At the time of the alleged incident, she was not wearing her con- tact lenses and had soap on her face and as such, she might have failed to recognise the alleged perpetrator.

“With all these infirmities, the magistrate was right in rejecting her evidence on the issue of identification,” said Haresh, who was assisted by Ramzani Idris.

Prior to this, the Kuala Pilah magistrate’s court had also acquitted the accused after finding serious contradictions in the testimonies of the witnesses.

Magistrate Farah Shuhada Ramli said the court had also decided to free the accused as there were several versions to the type and colour of the attire worn by the accused during the incident.

The court had then sent two handphones belonging to Mohd Aidris to the authorities to be examined for any recording of the victim, but it turned out there was none.