KUALA KUBU BHARU: A senior citizen today pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court here to a charge of having unnatural sex with a female goat at the back of his neighbour's house last July.

Shaari Hasan, 60, was charged with committing the act at Kampung Sungai Buaya, Rawang at 1.30 pm on July 27 under Section 377 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum jail term of 20 years and a fine or whipping, upon conviction.

Shaari, clad in a floral shirt, had initially nodded and pleaded guilty after the charge was read out to him before Judge Nurul Mardhiah Mohammed Redza.

However, when he was shown the exhibits, namely a green T-shirt and brown long pants that were allegedly seized from him during his arrest, the accused denied that the clothes belonged to him.

Nurul Mardhiah then asked the accused, "Do the shirt and trousers belong to you?" and the accused, who is a widower, replied: 'No.'

Nurul Mardhiah said the accused's guilty plea cannot be accepted as he did not admit owning the exhibits, and ordered for the charge against the elderly man to be read again. The accused then pleaded not guilty.

Deputy public prosecutor Siti Khadijah Amir Hamdzah did not offer bail to the accused.However, counsel Zolazrai Zolkapli, representing the accused, pleaded for a minimum bail.

The court did not offer bail and fixed Dec 24 for mention.

The media previously reported that the incident was noticed by the goat's owner, a 45-year-old woman, after hearing the animal making strange noises at the back of her house.

According to the police, she went to the scene and found a half-naked man that she knew standing near the doe.

Upon realising the presence of the woman, the suspect fled the scene. On checking, the woman found that the goat was dead.

-- BERNAMA