SINGAPORE. Oct 18 — When repeat offender Muhammad Johari Ibrahim saw a 13-year-old boy walking along the walkway outside a train station, he walked towards the boy and stretched out his right hand so that he could grope the boy’s private parts through his pants.
The 25-year-old was arrested for his actions two weeks later.
But four months on, while out on bail, Johari was arrested again for taking a video of a boy in a toilet at Kallang Wave Mall.
Johari pleaded guilty today to one charge of outrage of modesty and two charges of voyeurism.
He was sentenced to a jail term of three years and 24 weeks and five strokes of the cane, and another 44 days’ jail for breaching a remission order.
Johari was previously sentenced to three years in jail and three strokes of the cane in November 2018 for molesting a six-year-old.
He also received reformative training in 2016 for molesting a nine-year-old boy.
The first incident
On Sept 4, 2021 at about 8am, the 13-year-old victim alighted from the train at Paya Lebar MRT Station.
He cannot be named due to a gag order.
As he was walking along the walkway outside the station, he noticed Johari approaching him.
The victim tried to avoid him but Johari stretched out his right hand and groped the victim’s private parts from the outside of his pants.
Shocked and afraid, the victim quickened his pace and walked away, eventually losing sight of Johari after a distance.
That same evening, the victim told his parents about the incident and his mother immediately lodged an online police report.
With the help of CCTV footage from the MRT station, Johari was traced and arrested on Sept 17. He admitted to molesting the victim.
The second and third incidents
While on bail for the first charge, Johari was arrested again on Jan 15 for taking a video of a young boy inside one of the toilets at Kallang Wave Mall.
At about 2.30pm that day, a witness noticed a phone placed on the top right side of a cubicle and a young boy leaving the cubicle afterwards. The witness had also spotted Johari, who had placed the phone there.
The witness confronted Johari and subsequently called the police.
The police found several videos of young boys urinating in male toilets in Johari’s phone.
The court heard that Johari had recorded one of them on Jan 1, and Johari admitted to later watching the video and masturbating.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Yohanes Ng sought a sentence of three years, 27 to 31 weeks and 66 days’ imprisonment with five strokes of the cane.
He noted that the incident outside Paya Lebar MRT was Johari’s third time molesting a young boy, with the modus operandi being similar to that of his previous offences.
Those convicted of molestation can be jailed for up to two years, while the maximum jail term for molesting a minor under 14 is five years. They could also be fined or caned, or receive any combination of the three punishments.
Anyone convicted of voyeurism can be jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or given any combination of the three. — TODAY
