Man obsessed with woman who made small talk with him, groped her in lift

SINGAPORE — A man who made small talk with a neighbour he saw from time to time soon developed an unhealthy obsession with her, believing that he loved her.

Tia Sin Kwang, 56, began stalking the 38-year-old woman, who has a young daughter. Things came to a head when Tia trapped the woman in a lift and groped her over her clothing.

Tia, a Singaporean, was jailed for three-and-a-half years on Friday (28 January) after he pleaded guilty to a count of molesting the woman while in the lift of a building, with one count of stalking considered for his sentencing. Tia, who is married with three grown-up children, is serving an additional three-month jail term in lieu of caning as he is above 50 and cannot be caned.

A gag order protects the victim from being identified.

The victim and Tia worked in the same building and lived in the same neighbourhood. They would make small talk upon seeing see each other at the office canteen and in the neighbourhood. However, they were not friends.

Early last year, Tia saw the victim with her daughter in their neighbourhood and asked the victim if she wanted tracing books for her daughter. The victim agreed and the two exchanged mobile numbers at Tia’s request.

The two met up on a few occasions for Tia to pass the tracing books to the victim. Once, Tia followed the victim in the lift to her level under the pretext of escorting her upstairs and hence found out which level she lived on.

From 12 May last year, Tia begin stalking the victim, including repeatedly sending her texts asking if she loved him, although she rejected his feelings. He also stood outside the victim’s unit a few times and followed her while she was at the void deck with her daughter.

On 6 August 2021, the victim left her unit to go to work. When she entered a lift, Tia followed in quickly.

As the victim pressed the lift buttons, Tia placed his right hand on her right shoulder and stood close behind. The victim pushed his arm away but he persisted in placing his hand on the victim’s back.

He cornered her in the right corner of the lift, while the victim tried to avoid him by turning to face the lift. He then molested the woman, who tried to crouch but could not prevent Tia from groping her.

Tia stopped his actions when the lift stopped and another person entered. The victim quickly left at level one and boarded a bus, with Tia trailing her. He sat beside her, prompting her to change seat.

Later, the victim alighted at Bukit Merah bus interchange to take another bus. Tia stood beside her at the waiting area and showed her a photo of herself on his mobile phone.

“This was the second time the accused had come up to the victim to show her this photograph. The victim had uploaded the photograph onto her Facebook account sometime in May 2021, shortly after which, the accused approached the victim and showed her the photograph on his mobile phone,” said the prosecution.

After the first incident, the woman set her account to “private”.

Feeling disgusted, the woman moved away, but Tia persisted in following her. When she boarded the bus, Tia gave up following her.

Client lost sense of judgement: Lawyer

Tia’s lawyer Foo Ho Chew said that his client was a good colleague and employee as he had been serving his company for a decade.

“(My client) is a faithful husband to (his) wife to whom he’s married to for 30 years. He started acting out of character when he met the victim when he fell in love with her head over heels and he lost his sense of judgment,” said Foo.

Tia gave in to his emotions and was not his “usual self”, the lawyer added. Tia had hoped that the woman would reciprocate given that he treated her well, but he was wrong, Foo said.

Tia has since regretted his actions and pleaded guilty at the first instance.

“He told me not to counter argue so much and not to find excuses for his behaviour because he is truly sorry and deeply regrets and is ashamed of himself,” said Foo.

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