A POLYTECHNIC student was having her fifth and final driving lesson, and it turned out to be a traumatic experience.
During the 11/2-hour session, the 18-year-old was molested by her driving instructor, who also uttered inappropriate words that insulted her modesty.
Angry and shocked, she testified that she felt it was rude and disgusting for the instructor, Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman, to talk about such sensitive matters.
Yesterday, the 53-year-old, who has been suspended from his job, was convicted after a three-day trial of molesting her three times and insulting her modesty near Ubi estate on Dec 19 last year.
District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim sentenced him to a total of nine months’ jail.
Aziz is out on $15,000 bail, pending his appeal. His defence was one of denial.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Edward Ti had said that by claiming trial, Aziz had made the victim and her mother relive the act in open court. He had betrayed the sacred relationship between student and teacher, and the molestation took place in a confined space akin to a lift, the DPP added.
The court heard that the victim was driving Aziz’s car when he said something inappropriate 15 minutes into the lesson.
When the car was stationary, she said he took her hand off the steering wheel and placed it on his thigh. He then placed his right hand on top of hers, and told her to “be my scandal”. She refused.
Ten minutes later, at another red light junction, she said, he touched and squeezed her inner left thigh up to her groin area several times, on the pretext of “massaging” her.
Towards the end of her lesson, he used his finger to brush her left breast. She said she felt violated, angry, scared and ashamed.
Aziz could have been jailed for up to two years and/or fined for each count of outrage of modesty. For insulting modesty, the maximum punishment is a year’s jail and a fine.
