M'sian mosque caretaker & cleaner fined S$1,565 each for trying to have sex in mortuary room

A former mosque caretaker and a cleaner in Malaysia have been fined RM5,000 (S$1,565) each by the Melaka Syariah High Court after pleading guilty to attempting to have illicit sex in a mosque's mortuary room.

Mohd Rafi Abu Samah, 48, a widower with four children, and Norhaslinda Hashim, 51, a married mother of eight, will each serve 18 months' jail if they fail to pay, according to The Star.

"You could have been washed there straight away"

Judge Mawardi Che Man deemed the offence particularly serious due to its location in the mosque’s mortuary room, which is used to prepare the deceased for burial.

He said before passing sentence: "You are lucky you did not end up as corpses while committing the act. Otherwise, you could have been washed there straight away."

He noted that while the mortuary room is separate from the main prayer hall, it remains within the mosque grounds.

He said: "This is where the deceased undergo their final cleansing before burial. Instead, a grave sin was committed there."

According to Sinar Harian, the judge spent close to 30 minutes admonishing the pair.

He also told them that while adultery can be punishable by stoning under Islamic law, Malaysia’s syariah legal system is “takzir” in nature, with punishments aimed at prevention and education.

The charge

The court heard that the pair had engaged in illicit sexual acts several times in the mortuary room of Masjid Al-Ibadah in Kampung Bukit Piatu between Jan. and Apr., The Star reported.

Despite the multiple incidents, prosecutors filed only one charge against each of them based on the evidence available.

The charge related to an incident between 8am and noon on an unspecified date in Apr., when the pair allegedly attempted to have illicit sexual intercourse despite not being legally married to each other under Islamic law.

How the case came to light

The pair were handed over to the Melaka Islamic Religious Department’s enforcement division at around 4:30pm on Jun. 4, after police received a report alleging rape.

Police investigations later found that the acts were consensual and had taken place on multiple occasions.

Mitigation and sentencing

Melaka Chief Syarie Prosecutor Wan Mahyuddin Wan Muhammad, assisted by syarie prosecutor Radzwan Abdullah, called for a deterrent sentence, citing the sanctity of the location and the positions both held at the mosque.

Sinar Harian reported that in mitigation, the pair's lawyer Muhammad Ammar Yaser Ahmad Nazri asked the court to take into account that both had pleaded guilty voluntarily and understood the consequences.

The court heard Mohd Rafi had no income besides his allowance as a mosque committee member, and resigned once the matter became public.

Norhaslinda has been married for nearly 30 years and earns about RM50 (S$15.66) a day at a restaurant, on top of RM520 (S$162.85) a month as a part-time cleaner at the mosque.