Corpun file 24460 at www.corpun.com

The Straits Times, Singapore, 14 May 2013, p.B6

Bukit Batok lift molester gets 4½ years' jail and 9 strokes

By Elena Chong
Court Correspondent

A FACTORY worker who molested women in lifts was jailed for 4½ years and ordered to be given nine strokes of the cane yesterday.

Chinese national Dong Liang, 22, also hurt one 21-year-old victim, leaving her cut and bruised after he preyed on her in Bukit Batok Street 32.

As the lift was ascending, Dong moved closer to the victim, stretched out his left hand and grabbed her arm.

He also put his hand into her tank top and bra and gave her breast a tight and painful squeeze, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Norman Yew.

In the process, he caused the traumatised victim to fall to the ground, screaming -- but he did not release her and persisted in squeezing her breast.

When the lift door opened at the sixth floor, he fled down the staircase. She was too frightened to go after him.

She was left with bruises on her elbow and wrists, and a slight abrasion on her breast after the incident on Aug 26 last year.

Eleven days earlier, Mr Yew said, a 26-year-old woman had been alone waiting for a lift in Bukit Batok Street 52 when Dong got in just as the door was about to close.

As the victim answered a call on her mobile phone she saw Dong standing to her left, smiling at her, but she ignored him.

He then poked her breast through her clothes with his finger. When the lift door opened, he walked out but re-entered again as it was closing.

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Dong stretched out his hand and tried to touch the victim's breast but she swung her left arm towards his hand to stop him.

He persisted and managed to poke her breast about six times.

Ignoring her warning that she would shout if he did not leave, he then lifted her blouse and patted her groin area.

She used a tote bag to push against his chest and he released his grip on her blouse.

The victim shouted "molest" in Mandarin and he fled.

District Judge Salina Ishak, who took a third charge into consideration, agreed with the prosecutor that a deterrent sentence was called for in the light of several aggravating factors.

For causing hurt to the victim while molesting her, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years and caned.

The punishment for outrage of modesty is two years, or a fine or caning, or any combination of the sentences.

Corpun file 24459 at www.corpun.com

The Straits Times, Singapore, 15 May 2013, p.B8

Man who killed toddler jailed 10 years

By Ian Poh

A PART-TIME furniture mover who hit his girlfriend's three-year-old son so hard that he fell into a coma and died five days later was sentenced to 10 years in jail and 10 strokes of the cane yesterday.

Muhammad Raffiq Jaffah, 25, wiped away tears at the High Court after being sentenced by Justice Choo Han Teck. He had brief words with his parents and brother before being led away.

Eight years and five strokes are for a charge of culpable homicide for killing Danish Iman Abdullah in December 2010. The other two years and five strokes, to run immediately after, are for an unrelated charge of rioting. Muhammad Raffiq pleaded guilty to the charges on April 22, as well as to abusing the child on two previous occasions and an unrelated driving charge. The judge ordered the sentences for these to run at the same time.

Danish Iman was the son of bartender's assistant Nurul Jannah Jasman, 24, from a past relationship. She is Muhammad Raffiq's cousin and girlfriend. All three moved into a one-room rental flat in Geylang in October 2010.

On the evening of Dec 15, 2010, Muhammad Raffiq chided the boy for playing with biscuits on the floor, and slapped his face, causing Danish Iman's head to hit the wall behind him and his lips to bleed.

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Muhammad Raffiq picked him up and told him to wash up in the toilet. Minutes later he heard a thud and found the boy lying face down in the toilet. He called his girlfriend and they took him to KK Women's and Children's Hospital.

The boy was put in intensive care but died on Dec 20. An autopsy found injuries such as bleeding in the skull and swelling of the brain, and bone fractures in his pelvis and thigh.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Puspha S. sought at least 14 years' jail and 10 strokes of the cane. Defence lawyer John Abraham said his client was young, tired from his job and struggled to care for the child.

Corpun file 24475 at www.corpun.com

The Straits Times, Singapore, 23 May 2013, p.B14

Bhutanese overstayer broke into 8 restaurants

He's jailed for 4 years, 3 months and given 5 strokes for theft, overstaying

By Khushwant Singh

NOT only did he overstay for nearly 2½ years, despite being on a social visit pass and working illegally as a cleaner. But in March he also went on a burglary spree.

Within two months, Bhutan national Lobzang Nima, 25, stole cash and valuables amounting to $16,200 after breaking into restaurants nine times.

He was sentenced yesterday to four years in jail for the burglaries, and another three months and five strokes of the cane for overstaying.

Nima, who did not have a lawyer, said that he regretted committing the burglaries and pleaded for leniency.

He told the judge in English that all he wanted now was to go home to Bhutan to look after his mother and siblings.

The court heard that he came to Singapore through the Woodlands Checkpoint on Sept 22, 2010, and was issued a social visit pass that permitted him to remain here for a month.

When it expired, he went into hiding.

He worked illegally as a cleaner for about two years before discovering that he could reap more through burglary.

On April 10, the owner of Wang Dae Bak Korean BBQ Restaurant in Amoy Street reported to police that $50 cash, a laptop and an Apple iPad had been stolen from her shop.

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She suspected that a former worker was behind the break-in, along with earlier burglaries at the same outlet and another in Cross Street.

She gave a video recording to the police, who tracked down Nima two days later at Orchard Road.

Investigations revealed that, in total, he had broken into five restaurants in Chinatown and three more in the East Coast Parkway Seafood Centre.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Lydia Goh said that the police were able to recover $5,316 in cash and $3,000 worth of valuables that had been stolen.

Sporting shoulder-length hair and a heavily tattooed left forearm, the slim, 1.75m-tall Nima appeared glad when District Judge Lee Poh Choo backdated his jail term to April 13. That was the date he was produced in court and placed in remand.

For housebreaking by night to commit theft, he could have been jailed for between two years and 14 years.

As he had overstayed for more than 90 days, he could have been jailed for up to six months and caned three times or more.