Man jailed for tickling woman's buttock while she was next to boyfriend

A 28-year-old construction worker who brazenly molested a woman who was waiting for the bus with her boyfriend at a bus interchange was on Tuesday (13 November) jailed for seven weeks.

Kaliyaperumal Rajkumar, an Indian national, pleaded guilty at the State Courts to one charge of molestation.

The court heard that at around midnight on 24 September, the 22-year-old victim and her boyfriend went to the Woodlands Temporary Bus Interchange to wait for a bus.

They sat on a bench, with the victim’s 23-year-old boyfriend sitting on her left. Shortly after, Kaliyaperumal sat next to the victim on her right.

While the victim was talking to her boyfriend with her back to Kaliyaperumal, she felt her right buttock being tickled over her jeans for at least two seconds.

She immediately stood up and saw Kaliyaperumal using his left fingers to tickle her.

She told her boyfriend about the matter and he shouted at Kaliyaperumal, who then quickly walked off.

The victim and her boyfriend sought help from SMRT staff, who detained Kaliyaperumal and called the police.

Kaliyaperumal’s actions were captured by CCTV footage. He admitted the molest to police, saying he was sexually attracted to the victim.

In passing sentence, District Judge Marvin Bay said, “The public must be protected from late-night acts of harassment and molestation not just within the confines of public transport, but also in public places such as bus interchanges. The sentence must therefore be a sufficient deterrence for like-minded persons to dissuade from perpetrating such acts of outrage.”

The penalty for assault or use of criminal force to outrage the modesty of a person is up to two years’ jail, a fine, caning, or any combination of such punishments.

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