Jail for serial offender in Singapore who harassed Malaysian and two other teen girls with invasive questions, asked one to give him her urine

SINGAPORE, Aug 14 — A serial offender was hauled back to court yesterday for insulting the modesty of three teens by asking them inappropriate questions.

Soh Wee Boon approached two of the teens under the pretext of selling them tissue paper packets, before harassing them. He asked one of the teens to give him her urine, and another to watch him wear a skirt.

The 33-year-old was sentenced to two years and 103 days’ jail after pleading guilty to three counts of insulting the modesty of a woman.

Another similar charge was taken into consideration during sentencing.

Soh has an intellectual disability and gender identity disorder. However, an Institute of Mental Health report stated that there is “no contributory link between the accused’s mental condition and his offending”.

He is able to understand his acts, has voluntary control of himself and knows the offending acts were wrong, highlighted the prosecution.

Soh was last sentenced in February 2023 to 12 months and 80 days’ jail for a similar offence. He was also jailed for a similar offence in 2019.

As there is a gag order protecting the identities of the victims, they cannot be named.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Natalie Chu told the court that all three incidents happened when Soh was on a remission order.

Prisoners who show good conduct are allowed to be released after serving two-thirds of their sentence. They will then be issued with a remission order.

Those granted a remission order should not re-offend and not be convicted or sentenced to jail, reformative training, corrective training or preventive detention.

What happened

The first incident happened on January 23, when Soh approached an 18-year-old Malaysian who was walking along a sheltered walkway in Woodlands.

He asked her to buy 14 packets of tissues for S$12 (RM40) as he needed money to buy food for his brother. Out of pity, the teen agreed.

Soh commented that the teen was a “nice person” and asked her to follow him to a public housing block as he wanted to chat with her.

She replied she was busy — to which Soh proceeded to ask for her views on transgender people and that he wanted to transition into a female as he preferred female body parts. He also asked her if she could watch him wearing a skirt.

Feeling uneasy and uncomfortable, the girl started raising her voice. He then backed off and walked away.

A week later on February 2, Soh approached a 15-year-old girl who was heading home from school at a void deck near Boon Keng MRT station with a friend.

Soh tried to sell tissue packets to them by telling them he had no money or food. The girl then handed him S$1.

Soh then insisted that the girl should help him apply make-up, despite her saying she did not know how to.

Sensing her friend was uncomfortable, the girl told her friend to leave first. Soh then continued to ask the girl for her phone number, and later for her urine.

The girl continued rejecting his requests, but Soh continued to ask invasive questions. He also asked her to perform a sexual act on him. She responded that it was illegal and that she was a minor.

When her friend called her over the phone, the girl said she needed to leave. Soh then warned her not to tell anyone what happened.

DPP Chu said that during the 30-minute conversation, Soh was touching his private parts over the skirt he was wearing. Before the girl left, he asked to shake her hand.

Although the girl did not want to, she obliged as she “did not want to be impolite”.

After the incident, the girl informed her form teacher about what happened and was advised to make a police report.

On February 5, she tried to report the incident but did not know how to operate the e-kiosk at a neighbourhood police post.

She then sought help from her school counsellor on February 7, before breaking down as she recounted the incident to her father the same day.

Her mother then helped the girl make a police report on February 13.

Soh’s third victim was another 18-year-old. On February 5 at about 5.15pm, she was on the way to Bishan when Soh struck a conversation with her.

Although the teen said she was in a rush, Soh said it “would not take long”.

Soh asked for her thoughts on transitioning into a woman, before asking if she would perform a sex act on her friends in exchange for money.

As he asked the questions, he proceeded to touch himself near his private parts over his clothes.

Feeling uneasy, the teen quickly left and lodged a police report shortly after.

Enhanced sentence

DPP Chu called for a sentence of two years’ and 103 days’ jail.

She pointed out that one of the victims was a minor who was so distressed that she broke down when recalling the incident to her father.

The prosecutor added that Soh not only has multiple brushes with the law, this is also the eighth time he breached his conditional remission order.

He had also repeated his offences just weeks after being released from prison on January 5, DPP Chu said.

For each charge of insulting the modesty of a person, Soh could have been jailed up to a year, fined or both.

For breaking the remission order, Soh was also given an enhanced sentence for each of the offences he pleaded guilty to. — TODAY