Man gets 6 months' jail for molesting 7-year-old girl twice

A storekeeper molested a seven-year-old girl twice - the second time after noticing that she did not react when he first touched her buttocks.

Yesterday, Lim Kok Leong, 29, a Malaysian, was sentenced to six months in jail after he admitted to outraging the modesty of the girl twice at Boon Lay Shopping Centre last September.

The court heard that the girl was looking at some lanterns hung outside a shop at Block 21, Boon Lay Place on the evening of Sept 21 when Lim touched her buttocks as he walked past.

Thinking that the touch was accidental, she did not say anything.

Lim observed her from a distance. When he saw that she did not tell her parents, who were with her, he decided to do it again.

After molesting her again, he walked away, but this time, the girl told her mother what Lim had done.

The mother shouted at Lim to stop, but he ran off pursued by the girl's parents. He managed to get away.

Following an extensive police operation, Lim was arrested a month later and released on police bail.

While out on bail, he molested a 14-year-old girl in a lift in Boon Lay Avenue on Feb 11 this year. This charge was taken into consideration in sentencing.

District Judge Lim Tse Haw agreed with the prosecution that there were many aggravating factors in Lim's case, in particular the girl's very young age.

"After having touched her the first time, and seeing that she did not react, you had the audacity to touch her a second time," he said.

Lim, whose sentence was backdated to Feb 13, could have been jailed for up to five years, fined, caned or received any combined punishment for molesting a girl under 14 years old.

Elena Chong

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 14, 2016, with the headline Man gets 6 months' jail for molesting 7-year-old girl twice. Subscribe