Towels his weakness, says lawyer of man who committed molestation, robbery

Having a towel in hand appears to have triggered a repeat offender's penchant for crime, the defence said before the man was sentenced yesterday.

Defence lawyer Dhanwant Singh told the court that towels seemed to be a weakness for Isa Ahmad, 56, who committed robbery and aggravated molestation using a towel on two occasions in 2017.

Yesterday, he was sentenced to 12 years of preventive detention after pleading guilty to one count each of robbery and aggravated outrage of modesty. Preventive detention does not offer the usual one-third remission for good behaviour.

The court heard that Isa was a housekeeper at Orchard Hotel in 2017 when he molested a guest at Hilton hotel. He chanced upon a 27-year-old Thai national before she entered the Hilton on March 12 that year. He followed her, entering a lift and alighting when she did.

As she was entering her room, Isa grabbed her and covered her mouth with a purple towel. He told her he wanted to "make love" to her before pulling her by the neck and kissing her face. He then fled, but returned to ask for his towel back.

When the victim called security, Isa left and went to the Grand Hyatt hotel where he stole a white towel.

While in a lift at Tang Plaza, he used the towel to cover the neck and mouth of a 48-year-old Myanmar national. He then grabbed her handbag and stole her phone.

Isa was arrested the next day outside Orchard Hotel.

Yesterday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Gregory Gan urged the court to sentence Isa to 15 years of preventive detention. He said Isa committed the offences just five months after he was released from 14 years of preventive detention for robbery.

Mr Singh asked the court for a sentence of between 10 and 12 years of preventive detention.

He said: "The towel seems to be a weakness... The moment he has a towel in his hand, he seems to have something wrong with him."

However, an assessment by a psychiatrist found that he did not have any mental illness.

Isa's sentence was backdated to March 15, 2017, from when he had been in remand.

He could have been jailed for up to 10 years for each charge of aggravated molestation and robbery.