A senior executive with Bloomberg in Singapore who was embroiled in a molestation case walked out free on Friday. The defendant faced an 11-day long trial after his former Filipino maid accused him of molesting her at his residence on Tanjong Rhu Road.
It was reported that the 44- year-old Indian national, Nitin Jaiswal, was detained after the maid complained that he kissed her and grabbed her breasts by force after he returned to Singapore from Mumbai, India, on 18 February. Nitin was also scheduled to fly off to Australia that day to be with his wife and kids. The maid, who has been working with the family for two years, claimed that she served him tea and gave a massage following which he molested her. The court also learnt that the victim confided in a neighbour about the incident after the family returned home on 24 February.
After three days the maid left the house with her passport and work permit without telling anyone and lodged a police complaint on 28 February against her employer, reported The Straits Times.
According to the defendant, the maid had set up the entire case in order to extract money. It was also revealed in the court that the family paid her advance salary before leaving for Australia. The family accuses her of plotting a plan to extract more money.
District Judge Salina Ishak said that there are plenty of loopholes in both the prosecution and defence case and she was compelled to take the decision in favour of the defendant after the plaintiff failed to provide enough evidence to support her case. The Straits Times reported that the judge said she did not find the alleged victim's evidence to be "unusually convincing". Moreover, She said the fact that the material aspects of the maid's case were contradicted by her statement cannot be ruled out.
Jaiswal's lawyer said after the judgement that his client has been fully supported by his family and the company throughout the trial and "he is very grateful". "We are obviously grateful to the honourable court," he said.
