Man who repeatedly approached children to 'play with them' jailed 4 weeks
He approached three children on separate occasions in an attempt to play with them.
However, 33-year-old Wang Kanglong ended up using force on them and almost carried the youngest away. The victims, all boys, were aged three to seven.
Wang, a Singaporean, was sentenced to four weeks’ jail on Wednesday (2 January) after pleading guilty to one count of voluntarily causing hurt and two counts of using criminal force. One count of using criminal force was taken into consideration for his sentencing.
As Wang was remanded in November, he has finished serving his sentence and will be released on Wednesday after seeing a court counsellor.
When asked why he committed the offences, Wang told District Judge May Mesenas that he “just wanted to play with them”.
“I tell myself to stay away from children,” he added later.
In passing Wang’s sentence, the judge said, “(The victims) don’t want to be touched… Clearly they are not comfortable with a stranger touching them.”
Grabbed boy’s toy
On 11 July this year, the first victim – a five-year-old boy – was at Pentecoast Methodist Church on Pasir Ris Drive with his mother after being picked up from kindergarten.
As the boy had lost part of his toy, his mother and a staff member of the church went looking for it.
This was when Wang approached the boy and tried to snatch the remaining part of the toy from his hands. The church staff member witnessed Wang grabbing the boy’s shoulder and confronted him.
The staff member made a police report that night. The boy’s mother brought him to a doctor and the boy was found to have reddish lines on his shoulder.
Promises of McDonald’s, Disneyland
At around 11pm on 12 October, Wang approached a three-year-old boy at Eastpoint Mall and asked the child to follow him. He promised to buy the victim ice cream and take him to McDonald’s and Disneyland.
The boy’s mother had been closing up shop at the time and he was waiting outside with his father and domestic helper.
Following Wang’s offer, the maid asked the man to leave but he persisted and tried to pull the boy away. He also attempted to carry the boy but the maid took the child back.
The boy’s father lodged a police report the next day.
Offended again while under investigation
While out on bail for the October offence, Wang offended again by attempting to play with a seven-year-old boy at a branch of the Popular bookstore in Tampines Mall.
On 22 November, the boy was at the outlet’s laptop section with a friend when Wang approached him from behind. Wang rubbed the victim’s ears and shook the boy’s head from side to side for a few seconds.
Unable to shake Wang off, the boy and his friend asked Wang leave but Wang still tried to talk to them. The boy then told his mother about the incident and the police were informed of the incident.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Shenna Tjoa asked for a short jail term for Wang. She told the court that Wang had breached a personal protection order taken out against him by his father on at least eight occasions since 2005.
In mitigation, Wang, who was not represented, told the court that he would not reoffend.
For using criminal force, Wang could have been jailed up to three months and/or fined up to $1,500. For the charge of voluntarily causing hurt, he could have been jailed up to two years and/or fined a maximum $5,000.
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