Court of Appeal overturns acquittal, jails ex‑bowling coach two more years for molesting 13‑year‑old
PUTRAJAYA, Oct 2 — A former bowling coach, already serving a prison term for sexual assault, was sentenced to an a...
Mat Salleh Jalani, a former bowling coach, has been sentenced to an additional two years in prison by the Court of Appeal for molesting a 13-year-old former Malaysia Games male athlete in 2017. The three-member bench, led by Federal Court judge Datuk Azmi Ariffin, ordered Mat Salleh to begin serving the two-year sentence after completing his six-year term for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old athlete in 2018.
The court reinstated the Magistrates' Court's conviction and increased the sentence from 18 months to two years. The victim's credibility was upheld by Justice Hayatul Akmal, who stated that delay in reporting the sexual offence did not undermine the victim's credibility. Mat Salleh, 63, was convicted in January 2024 for outraging the modesty of the 13-year-old victim in Kuala Terengganu in May 2017.
The High Court had acquitted and discharged him of the charge in August 2023, which prompted the prosecution to appeal. Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Nazneen Zulkifli urged the court to increase the sentence, citing Mat Salleh's previous offence and current prison sentence.
Written by urgent.news from Malay Mail's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
