SINGAPORE - A young man who threatened a woman and behaved in an insulting manner was sentenced to four months' jail on Friday.
As the court backdated Soh Wee Boon's sentence to his remand in April, the 22-year-old was allowed to be freed from prison.
The former waiter admitted to criminal intimidation and insulting modesty in Woodlands on Dec 16 last year.
A Community Court heard that a 24-year-old woman was walking home that evening when Soh approached her and wanted to sell her some tissue packets. He had told her about his family background.
When she claimed she did not have enough money to buy the tissue packets, he brought her to a corner of the void deck. He told her not to shout or call the police as he had a penknife, causing her alarm.
While talking to her, she saw him touching and fondling his groin area.
Soh, who is suffering from mild intellectual disability, has previous convictions for theft, committing an obscene act, insulting modesty and criminal breach of trust.
His lawyer, Mr Ng Shi Yang from the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme (Clas) Fellowship, said in his mitigation plea that Soh has a troubled family background, with no support network at all.
Soh and his mother are the sole breadwinners of the family. His stepfather is serving a jail sentence for drug-related offences and his elder brother, life imprisonment for culpable homicide. His younger brother had been detained in the Boys' Home before.
Mr Ng said Soh intends to continue his outpatient treatment at the Institute of Mental Health.
He asked for a sentence that would allow Soh to be released and this was granted by District Judge Lim Keng Yeow.
Judge Lim said he was concerned that Soh reoffended not long after he was last dealt with.
He told Soh that it was "absolutely essential" that he commits himself to treatment "not just for a short period of time, but for weeks and months to come."
Soh could have been jailed for up to two years and/or fined for criminal intimidation; and jailed for up to one year and/or fined for insulting modesty.
