00:01The Malacca Sharia High Court has fined a former mosque caretaker and a cleaner 5,000 ringgit each in default
00:08of 18 months jail after both pleaded guilty to committing illicit sexual intercourse in a mosque mortuary room.
00:15The court heard that 48-year-old Muhammad Rafi Abu Sama and 51-year-old Norhas Linda Hashim engaged in
00:22the act multiple times,
00:23despite not being legally married to each other under Islamic law between 8am and noon throughout the month of April
00:29this year.
00:30Judge Mawadi Chekman stressed that although the mortuary room was separate from the main prayer hall,
00:35it remained within sacred mosque grounds set aside for the final cleansing of the deceased before burial.
00:41Both were charged under Section 52 of the Sharia Offences Enactment, 1991.
00:47Police handed the pair to the Malacca Islamic Religious Department's Enforcement Division on June 4,
00:52following an initial report alleging rape.
00:55Investigations later found the acts were consensual and repeated.
00:59Prosecutors had urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence,
01:02citing the sanctity of the location and the accused's positions as mosque personnel.
01:07Both were represented by lawyers from the National Legal Aid Foundation.
01:11In mitigation, Defense Counsel Muhammad Amar Yasser Ahmad Nazri said Muhammad Rafi is a widower with four children,
01:18whose only income came from an allowance as a mosque committee member.
01:22He resigned from his position after the case became public.
01:25The court also heard that Noha Slinda, married for nearly 30 years with eight children,
01:31works at a restaurant in Semerbok, earning about 50 ringgit a day,
01:34and had taken on part-time cleaning work at the mosque for 520 ringgit a month.
01:39The defense asked the court to take into account that both clients' guilty pleas were made voluntarily,
01:45and with full understanding of the consequences.
01:47He said that in Sharia offenses, a guilty plea can also reflect remorse and repentance,
01:52though he acknowledged it was no guarantee of a reduced sentence,
01:56as that remained entirely at the judge's discretion.
01:59During this offer,
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