A senior investigator, who has 17 years of experience faces a jail term as he preyed on two women suspected of being sex workers under his custody. He molested one of the suspects and forced another woman to perform sex acts on him. During the court hearing, the district judge addressed the issue as a serious abuse of trust.
The 39-year-old accused Lee Sze Chiat was a Senior Staff Sergeant when he sexually abused two women, who are Chinese nationals aged 28 and 29. He exploited both the victims when they were in handcuffs in an interview room at Jurong Police Divisional Headquarters. On Tuesday, November 19 Lee was sentenced to one year of jail term as well as a stroke of the cane.
Court hearing
During sentencing District Judge Christopher said the fact the molest victim was under restraints cannot be ignored. He also added that "What's aggravating is that these restraints were actually physical strictures that the law empowers policemen to use to protect the innocent," but "They were used to subjugate her to fulfil his desires."
However, Lee pleaded guilty to one count of molestation and an offence under the Police Force Act, while two other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing. Deputy Public Prosecutors Marshall Lim and Niranjan Ranjakunalan urged the court for at least 13-months of imprisonment as well as canning and mentioned that it was shocking that a senior public servant like Lee had committed an offence like this.
The arrest and the molestation
It should be mentioned that both the unnamed victims, were arrested on December 6, 2017, and taken to Jurong Police Divisional Headquarters. But Lee was not assigned to perform any investigation in the case. He volunteered in the investigation and at around 11 pm he escorted the 28-year-old woman from the basement lockup to an interview room on the first floor of the building.
He then asked the woman about her profession. Lee asked the woman twice to give him a massage and she refused. Later, he locked the door and told the woman that there were no CCTV cameras in the room, and she reluctantly agreed, said the court version. Soon, Lee held her waist and molested her over her T-shirt. After the hour-long interview, Lee took the other woman to the same interview room and asked her to masturbate him as well as perform a sex act on him.
