SINGAPORE, March 12 — After picking up a female passenger who had booked a carpooling ride, Hashim Othman molested her in his car by stroking her leg.
The 59-year-old man was sentenced to a week’s jail today after pleading guilty to one count of outraging the 38-year-old victim’s modesty.
Hashim, who was working as a driver for ride-hailing firm Grab at the time, was assigned to pick the woman up on September 10, 2018 at about 10pm.
The court heard that she booked the GrabShare ride — the firm’s on-demand commercial carpooling service — from Parkland Green in East Coast Park to a public housing block along Tampines Street 81.
She sat at the left rear passenger seat and was the only one in the car aside from Hashim.
While driving along the Pan-Island Expressway towards Changi Airport, Hashim stretched out his left hand towards the woman and brushed her ankle.
He then turned and stared at her legs, before placing his hand in between her ankles and using his palm to stroke her right inner calf in an upwards motion several times from her ankle to knee.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Eugene Teh told the court that she was wearing “mid-thigh length shorts” at the time.
Shocked by Hashim’s actions, she asked him what he was doing. He withdrew his hand and apologised.
DPP Teh sought a short custodial sentence, noting that Hashim had committed the offence in a private-hire vehicle and touched her skin-to-skin.
He could have been jailed up to two years, fined or both. Offenders convicted of molestation can also be caned but those aged 50 or above cannot be caned by law. — TODAY
