Site engineer jailed six months for molesting neighbour in lift

SINGAPORE - While heading home after work one evening, a site engineer noticed a neighbour walking past and thought she was attractive. He ended up following her to her block and molesting her in a lift.

On Tuesday Wang Xiong, 24, was sentenced to six months in prison after pleading guilty to outraging the 27-year-old's modesty on Jan 27 this year. One other count of molest, committed against a 21-year-old girl six days earlier in a similar fashion, was taken into consideration.

The court heard that around 7.45pm that night, the Chinese national had exited Pioneer MRT and was walking towards his rented flat along Jurong West Street 65.

This was when he spotted and tailed his neighbour, who lived in the adjacent block of flats.

She entered and pressed the button for the third floor but he entered immediately after, standing near her after pressing for level 10.

As she moved to exit when the elevator reached her floor, he touched her breast. She shrugged him off and shouted for help, grappling with him, but he managed to run out of the lift and down the stairs. She went home and called the police after giving chase unsuccessfully.

In mitigation, Wang, who is here on work pass, said through his lawyer that he had ended up following the girl to her block due to a "momentary memory lapse".

He could have been jailed up to two years, caned and fined for using criminal force to outrage his victim's modesty.

Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.