This young lady was just going about her day and minding her own business on the train when she got sexually harassed by a pervert. This pervert is Terence Siow Kai Yuan, a student at National University of Singapore (NUS) who has been accused of molesting the woman three times but was spared from jail because he has the “potential to excel in life”.
According to The New Paper, District Judge Jasvender Kaur sentenced him to 21 months of supervised probation and said that his actions towards the woman were considered as “minor intrusions” even though he had purposefully touched her three times. The 23-year-old had pleaded guilty to one charge of outraging the modesty of a 28-year-old woman while two other charges were taken into consideration.
Molested three times by Siow
Source: Champion Tutor
The incident had happened on September 12th last year when Siow was on the North East Line heading towards Punggol station at about 11.30pm. He had noticed the victim who was wearing shorts and said that she had “very long legs”. And no, this is not about what she was wearing because she can wear whatever she wants!
They were sitting next to each other on the train when Siow felt the urge to touch her and used his left hand to touch the outside of her right thigh. She shifted away to try and put some distance between them by crossing her legs. Siow was undeterred and he touched her right thigh again. She moved to another seat and alighted at Serangoon station later.
You would’ve thought that this would end there as that was not Siow’s stop but he admitted that he had the urge to touch her again so he got up and followed her. He tailed the woman and stood behind her on the escalator at the station before he saw his opportunity and ran his finger to touch her buttocks over her shorts. WTF!
Source: Land Transport Guru
The woman turned around and shouted at him, causing Siow to quickly run away. The woman informed a station officer about the incident and pointed to Siow who was leaving the station. She lodged a police report about one and a half hours later and Siow was arrested at Hougang Avenue 5 three days later.
This is not the first time he has molested someone
Source: TNP
Apparently, this is not the first time Siow has committed such acts since he enrolled in NUS in 2016. Siow admitted that he had done this before in a probation suitability report ordered by the court, but he was “unable to recall” how many times he had committed such acts.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Benedict Chan pushed for a jail sentence instead of probation as it was troubling and Siow had a “deep-seated habit”. He said, “The accused knew it was wrong but was emboldened after previous successes. He only sought help after facing the university’s Board of Discipline.” Siow was deemed to be normal and not suffering from any disorder. Which means he knows what he’s doing!
The judge said the molestation were “minor intrusions”
Judge Kaur disagreed with the DPP and said that Siow was unable to control his urges. She added, “Looking at the nature of the intrusion, I would say it is minor,” even though DPP Chan said that Siow had wilfully molested the woman three times.
DPP Chan said that two of the acts had actual skin-to-skin contact but the judge dismissed this by saying “it was just a brief touch on the thigh”.
Siow was spared from jail time as he had good results and the molestation was “relatively minor”
For illustration purposes only | Source: Stomp
Siow’s defence lawyer, Raphael Louis said that his client is getting help and is graduating from NUS in about two years. He urged the court to grant probation and said, “He’s getting help, he wants to change, he has learnt his lesson.”
Judge Kaur said that he had excellent academic results and said, “I think there can be no doubt that there is extremely strong propensity for reform. He was 22 years old when he committed the offences… and the nature of the acts (is) relatively minor.”
Siow was also a part-time home tutor who is majoring in Applied Mathematics in NUS and reportedly has a cumulative average point (CAP) of 4.39 out of 5. He was sentenced to 150 hours of community service as well while his parents were bonded for $5,000 (RM15,154) for good behaviour.
The judge told Siow during sentencing, “I have every confidence you will not re-offend and hope you don’t disappoint me.”
Getting help at NUS for his sexual urges
Source: IB Times
TNP reported that Siow is now getting counselling at NUS so he can manage his sexual urges but he will still be expected back in school where he will eventually graduate. Last October, Siow reportedly faced a Board of Discipline hearing where he had disciplinary sanctions, including the suspension of candidature and mandatory counselling.
NUS insists that they take a serious view of student misconduct and the disciplinary sanctions will be in the student’s formal educational record. Siow could have been jailed for up to two years, fined and/or caned for each count of outrage of modesty.
Victim disappointed at the court’s decision
The victim told TNP that she was disappointed at the sentence and said that the effect of the molestation on her was not minor at all. She said, “I don’t think about what happened all the time. But when I take the train, I am mildly paranoid and aware of my position relative to other passengers. I actively try to sit or stand near other women where possible. I now feel uncomfortable wearing shorts in public and prefer using the lift than the escalator.”
She also said that the court’s sentencing could signify to would-be perverts that all you needed to escape a jail sentence was to get good grades.
What do you think of this issue? Let us know in the comments section!
Also read: PSA: Flashers & Perverts Are Terrorising Sg Long UTAR Students, Females Urged to Be Alert
