A Melaka Syariah High Court judge delivered a stark warning to a couple fined for having sex in a mosque’s mortuary room: they were lucky not to have died during the act.
Judge Mawardi Che Man fined the pair RM5,000 each, in default 18 months’ jail, after they pleaded guilty to committing illicit sex inside the mortuary of Masjid Al-Ibadah in Kampung Bukit Piatu, Melaka.
“You are lucky you did not end up as corpses while committing the act. Otherwise, you could have been washed there straight away,” Mawardi said before passing sentence on 13 August.
The accused were former mosque caretaker Mohd Rafi Abu Samah, 48, a widower with four children, and cleaner Norhaslinda Hashim, 51, a married mother of eight. Both admitted to their respective charges at the Melaka Syariah High Court.
The court heard that the pair had engaged in illicit sexual acts on multiple occasions in the mortuary room between January and April, according to Malay Mail. The prosecution brought only a single charge against each based on available evidence, with the offence taking place between 8am and noon on an unspecified date in April, in a room set aside for the final cleansing of the deceased before burial.
Mawardi described the offence as particularly serious, noting that both accused held positions of trust within the mosque. He stressed that although the mortuary room stood apart from the main prayer hall, it remained within sacred mosque grounds dedicated to the final rites before burial.
“This is where the deceased undergo their final cleansing before burial. Instead, a grave sin was committed there,” he was quoted as saying.
The case first came to light through an unexpected route. Police handed the pair over to the Melaka Islamic Religious Department’s enforcement division on 4 June following an initial report alleging rape. Subsequent police investigations established that the sexual acts had been consensual and repeated.
Melaka Chief Syarie Prosecutor Wan Mahyuddin Wan Muhammad urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence, citing the sanctity of the location and the duo’s positions as mosque personnel. Syarie prosecutor Radzwan Abdullah assisted in the case.
Both were charged under Section 52 of the Syariah Offences Enactment (State of Melaka) 1991, which carries a maximum fine of RM5,000, imprisonment of up to 36 months, or both. The pair were represented by Syarie lawyer Muhammad Ammar Yaser Ahmad Nazri from the National Legal Aid Foundation.
