MELAKA, Aug 13 — When a former mosque caretaker and a cleaner turned a mortuary room into the setting for their secret affair, they never imagined a judge would remind them just how close they had come to sharing the fate of the dead they were meant to prepare.

The Melaka Syariah High Court today fined the pair RM5,000 each, in default 18 months’ jail, after they pleaded guilty to committing illicit sex inside the mortuary room of Masjid Al-Ibadah in Kampung Bukit Piatu, The Star reported.

“You are lucky you did not end up as corpses while committing the act. Otherwise, you could have been washed there straight away,” Judge Mawardi Che Man was quoted as saying before passing sentence.

The accused, former mosque caretaker Mohd Rafi Abu Samah, 48, a widower with four children, and cleaner Norhaslinda Hashim, 51, a married mother of eight, admitted to their respective charges.

The court heard that the pair had engaged in illicit sexual acts on multiple occasions in the mortuary room between January and April, though the prosecution brought only a single charge against each based on available evidence.

The offence took 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 stressed that although the mortuary room stood apart from the main prayer hall, it remained within sacred mosque grounds.

“This is where the deceased undergo their final cleansing before burial. Instead, a grave sin was committed there,” he was quoted as saying.

The two accused 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, upon conviction.

The case first came to light through an unexpected route, with police handing the pair over to the Melaka Islamic Religious Department’s enforcement division on June 4 following an initial report alleging rape.

Subsequent police investigations found that the sexual acts had been consensual and repeated.

Melaka Chief Syarie Prosecutor Wan Mahyuddin Wan Muhammad, assisted by Syarie prosecutor Radzwan Abdullah, urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence, citing the sanctity of the location and the duo’s positions as mosque personnel.

The pair were represented by Syarie lawyer Muhammad Ammar Yaser Ahmad Nazri from the National Legal Aid Foundation. - malaymail