BATU PAHAT: The school bus driver who uploaded a video of a primary school student and referred to her as his "crush" was charged again in the Sessions Court today.
The 24-year-old man faces a new charge of posting offensive comments on TikTok about a nine-year-old child.
He pleaded not guilty and requested a trial after the charges were read to him by a court interpreter before Judge Osman Affendi Mohd Shalleh.
According to the charges, the man used the TikTok account name 'Abang Bas' to post derogatory comments on a video of the child, captioned 'today crush did homework,' accompanied by a 'love' emoji.
The alleged offense occurred at Jalan Aman 2, Taman Budiman, Parit Raja, at 11 pm on Sept. 5.
For this, he was charged under Section 233(1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (Act 588), which is punishable under Section 233(3) of the same act, with a fine of up to RM50,000 or a year's imprisonment or both, and a further fine of RM1,000 for each subsequent offence after conviction.
Prosecution was led by Deputy Public Prosecutor Nur Izzati Rozman, while the accused was represented by lawyer Umar Zulkarnain.
Following the not guilty plea, the prosecution requested for the case to be transferred to the Muar Sessions Court as he is also facing charges there.
"The prosecution requests that this case be transferred to the Muar Sessions Court as the accused is already facing two charges there, in accordance with Section 165 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
"The prosecution is also not offering bail; however, if the court allows it, we propose that the accused be granted bail at RM25,000 with additional conditions," she said.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the court allowed the accused to be released on bail of RM10,000 with one surety and set Oct 10 for the next mention of the case, alongside the charges he faces in the Muar Sessions Court.
Additionally, the court imposed the condition that the accused must report to the nearest police station at the beginning of each month and must not harass or communicate the victim until the case is resolved.
Last Tuesday, he was charged in the Muar Sessions Court with two offences under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act (SOACA) 2017 and Section 15(a)(iii) of the same act.
The charges involved physical sexual assault and repeatedly watching a nine-year-old girl for sexual purposes.
However, he also pleaded not guilty to both charges and was granted bail of RM30,000, but he failed to pay.
He was arrested after posting a video recording of a primary school student, who was also his passenger, referring to her as his 'crush' and 'favourite' on TikTok.
His arrest was made after Women, Family, and Community Developmen Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri instructed officials from the of Children Development Department (JPKK) to lodge a police report regarding the viral social media post.