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 Ab...