SINGAPORE, Dec 3 — A 59-year-old man who repeatedly molested a 12-year-old former neighbour was today jailed one-and-a-half years.
Over the space of 10 minutes last year, the man, a cleaner working at a mall, grabbed the primary school student’s chest, tried to kiss her forcibly and tried to have her touch his groin.
The man cannot be named because of a court order to protect the victim’s identity.
He faced seven charges of molesting a minor under 14. He pleaded guilty to three of them, while the remaining four charges were considered during sentencing.
‘Perverted persistence’
Around noon on Sept 27 last year, the man spotted the girl near his workplace as she was heading home from school and ran up to her, insisting on taking her home.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Colin Ng said that the girl did not walk away as she recognised the man as her former neighbour, before her family moved out of their previous residence.
Court documents did not state when the girl’s family moved.
As they walked back to her home, the man put his arm around the girl’s waist. The girl tried to break away, but could not.
When they reached the lift lobby of the girl’s apartment block, the man kissed the girl on the cheek, then took her to a staircase landing at the block.
He sat beside the girl and reached under her skirt against her will and molested her.
He then tried to pull her hand towards his groin, but the girl resisted.
The man touched her again, including on her chest, while the girl continued resisting his advances.
Pushing her to the ground, he tried to kiss her, but she had her lips tightly shut.
The man stopped only after he received a telephone call from his employer who asked him to return to work. He turned to kiss her again before leaving.
The girl later told her mother that she was molested.
Her mother called the police and requested that a policewoman handle the case, as her daughter was reluctant to make a report at a police station.
When the police interviewed the man after his arrest, he said: “I (am) already divorced and I have no woman. So, when I was with (the girl), I suddenly had the urge to touch her and thus carried out the acts.”
DPP Ng, who sought at least 19 months’ jail in lieu of caning, said that the man did not practise any self-restraint despite the victim’s struggles.
The man cannot be caned as he is above age 50.
DPP Ng said: “It was entirely fortuitous that the accused’s employer had called, and that had served to stop the accused from further outraging the modesty of the victim.”
He added that the man’s acts were “not fleeting” and showed a “perverted persistence” as he molested the girl, who was much younger and weaker than he was.
In passing sentence, District Judge Luke Tan noted that the girl had trusted the man initially as she had recognised him. The man’s acts over the course of about 10 minutes were enough for the prosecution to press seven separate charges against him, the judge said.
For each charge of molesting a minor, the man could have been jailed up to five years. — TODAY
