A 32-year-old man molested a woman five years ago and then disappeared only to be caught again in 2016 for trespassing into a girl's university dormitory room and performing a lewd act. Authorities tracked him down based on the DNA samples taken after the latter crime which easily linked him to his previous offense.
In the previous case, the accused allegedly molested the woman when she went to her boyfriend's car to take some rest. He ran away after committing the crime.
The culprit was finally sentenced to two years and eight months in jail, including three strokes of the cane on Wednesday, January 24.
According to reports, Shah admitted the molestation charge, including the house-trespass in 2016. During the court hearing, the judge heard how he got inside the car where the woman was resting after drinking at a Clarke Quay pub on October 23, 2011, at around 4:30 AM.
The Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Yiwen said that the accused forcefully kissed the woman inside the car but she bit him. He lost the grip on her arm and then she escaped from the driver's door.
During the trial, the court also heard how the alleged criminal trespassed three times into the Nanyang Technological University hostel rooms from October 20 to November 16, 2016.
Yiwen also said that an 18-year-old Chinese national was sleeping on her bed in the hostel on November 2, 2016. When she woke up she saw Shah was standing next to her bed, naked from the waist with a t-shirt covering his face, including a dark jacket.
Later, Shah asked the girl to have sex with her. But when she rejected, he started to talk to her about his problem before performing a lewd sexual activity which lasted for more than an hour.
A cleaner from the hostel informed the police that he saw Shah with a black vehicle. Then the authority tracked him down through his registration number and arrested him under four criminal charges on November 18, 2016.
Cases such as this indicate that the south-east Asian country has to make its criminal laws and investigation process stronger. According to reports, 1,168 cases of molestation have been reported from January to September 2017, which shows a 19.9 percent increase, compared to 2016.
