SINGAPORE - Five men, aged between 26 and 50, were charged in a district court on Thursday (May 27) with molesting women on separate occasions.
Toh Lam Seng, 50; Nguyen Chi Cong, 31; Koyya Syama Sundara Rao, 37; and Kasinathan Gumaresan, 34, each face one count of outrage of modesty, while Helmi Norman, 26, faces two charges of the same offence.
Helmi, a Singaporean, faces an additional charge of insulting the modesty of a 26-year-old woman after he made a comment to her about her breasts being bigger than another woman's on July 22, 2019 at the fitness corner of Block 217 Yishun Street 22.
He is accused of squeezing her breast twice on the same night at about 11.20pm and 11.25pm.
Meanwhile, Indian national Gumaresan is said to have used criminal force to touch a 48-year-old woman's buttock over her clothing on Oct 18 last year at about 9pm, at Bruno's Pizzeria located at 544 Serangoon Road.
He told the court on Thursday that he was intoxicated at the time and did not recall committing the crime.
Vietnamese national Chi Cong is said to have touched the buttocks of a 33-year-old woman on April 8 this year at around 7.50pm, at a Sheng Shiong Supermarket outlet located at Block 675 Yishun Avenue 4.
Similarly, Rao, an Indian national, is accused of touching the left buttock of a 31-year-old woman in a shop on Nov 9 last year. The location of the shop was redacted in court documents to the media.
Toh, a Singaporean, faces higher penalties, as he is said to have touched a 13-year-old on her shoulder, upper arm, left breast, hip area and inner thigh area at Pets Keepers shop located at Block 131 Marsiling Rise on June 22 last year.
Intending to outrage the modesty of a child under the age of 14 carries a higher maximum punishment of five years imprisonment, a fine, caning, or any combination of these punishments.
For each charge of outrage of modesty of a woman, offenders can face a jail term of up to two years, a fine and caning.
For insulting the modesty of a woman, offenders can be jailed for up to a year, fined or both.
