Man gets 10 months' jail for molesting maid and expectant mother in lift

SINGAPORE - A guest service executive molested two women, including an expectant mother, in a lift in separate incidents within the space of an hour.

Manikam Sandar, 28, was sentenced to 10 months' jail on Thursday (Dec 14) after admitting to two counts of outrage of modesty. Two other molestation charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

At 2.20pm on Aug 16, Manikam followed a 30-year-old maid into a lift at a block of flats in Clementi.

As the lift was moving up, he molested the Myanmar national.

Shocked, the woman yelled as she pushed him away. "Don't shout... I'm touching you only," he told her.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Siti Adrianni Marhain told the court on Thursday: "The first victim cowered on the ground and struggled as the accused continued touching her.

"After the accused backed off, she got up from the ground and exited at the fourth level when the lift doors opened."

But Manikam molested the woman again as she was getting out of the lift.

About 30 minutes later, he followed a 27-year-old housewife into a lift in West Coast Road and molested her as the lift was moving.

"While cowering on the ground, she told the accused that she was pregnant," DPP Siti Adrianni told district judge Sarah Tan.

"The accused slapped his own forehead and muttered something unintelligible. He then exited the lift at level nine and ran down a staircase."

The incidents were captured on closed circuit television.

Manikam was arrested at around 7pm the same day after the two women made police reports.

He admitted he had drunk five cans of beer before molesting the women.

For each count of outrage of modesty, he could have been jailed for up to two years, and fined or caned.

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