Man fined $5,000 for molesting female cabby, who drove him to the police
A drunk male passenger courted and touched a female taxi driver on her waist while he was taking her taxi. Angered by his action, she delivered the man straight to the police.
Ngoh Keh Chang, 55, was fined $5,000 on Tuesday (19 December) on one charge of touching the woman, 61, on her waist. Another charge of touching the woman’s shoulder was taken into consideration for sentencing. The woman, who cannot be named due to a court order, was working as a relief taxi driver with SMRT during the time of the offences.
The court heard that on 10 September last year, Ngoh attended a wedding banquet at Shangri-la Hotel at around 7.45pm. After the banquet ended, Ngoh booked a cab back home via ride-hailing application Grab and the woman accepted the booking.
Around 12.04am on 11 September, the woman picked up Ngoh at the entrance of Shangri-la Hotel. Ngoh sat in the middle of the rear passenger seat.
During the ride, Ngoh conversed with the woman and asked her to be his girlfriend. He also asked if he could kiss her. As the woman was driving along the Pan Island Expressway, near the Clementi Avenue 6 exit, she felt Ngoh’s hand on her left waist over her clothes. She immediately pushed his hand away and said, “you try to molest ah” to Ngoh.
Feeling outraged, the woman drove Ngoh straight to Jurong Police Division Headquarters where she sought assistance at its guardhouse at around 12.46am. Ngoh was then apprehended by police officers.
During sentencing, District Judge Jasvender Kaur said that Ngoh committed the offence against a taxi driver, who was entitled to be protected. For outraging the woman’s modesty, Ngoh could have been jailed up to two years and/or fined.
