JAILED

He could have been jailed for up to two years and fined or caned.

Scout leader a molester

BY CHUA WEI YNG

HE WAS a scout leader.

As well as a trusted old boy of his school.

But instead of helping the boys learn, Yan Tuck Foo (left), 24, used his position to take advantage of his young charges during a Scouts in-camp in March last year.

On March 14, the second day of the four-day camp, Yan molested three Secondary 1 boys.

Yan had volunteered to help as a Scout leader during the camp, which was held from March 13 to 16 on the school grounds.

The New Paper cannot name the school to protect the identity of the boys.

Yan had told his three victims, all 13 years old, that he wanted to punish them.

He said they had made mistakes during the National Day Parade school practice, even though that practice had taken place two months earlier.

Obediently, the boys followed Yan's instructions.

They were to meet him in an empty room on the third storey of the school building at about 8.30 pm.

On entering, Yan told them to remove their T-shirts and use them to blindfold their eyes.

He then ordered them to kneel on the floor behind a cupboard in the room.

One at a time, he pulled down their shorts and briefs.

Yan then masturbated his first two victims.

But when the third boy complained of pain, he stopped.

Yan told the boys he was only punishing them.

He warned them not to tell anyone about what had happened, and let them go.

Later that night, the boys confided in the teacher who was camp leader.

Together, they called the police and reported Yan to the police.

In court on May 2, Yan, who did not have a lawyer, seemed composed.

He even thanked District Judge Seng Kwang Boon for deferring his sentencing by two weeks as he had to sit for his university examinations.

JAILED

For molest and causing hurt in a lift, he could have been jailed up to 10 years and caned.

SINGAPORE: judicial

Maid molest
14 floors up and 7 floors down

BY CHUA WEI YNG

FOR this molest victim, it was a ride through 21 floors of hell.

She was molested in the lift, all the way from the ground floor to the 14th floor. And half-way down again.

The 31-year-old Indonesian maid's ride of terror started early on April 4 this year.

At about 6.15 am, she left her employer's flat on the 15th floor to go to market.

Her employer's mother ran a stall there, and the maid had gone to deliver some flour.

As she reached the ground floor, she noticed Mohd Tajuddin, a Bangladeshi cleaner, sweeping the void deck of the Havelock Road block of flats.

When the maid returned, 10 minutes later, Tajuddin, 27, made his move.

She had already pressed the button for the 14th floor and the lift doors were closing.

Suddenly, Tajuddin pressed the "door open" button and slipped in behind the maid.

When the lift started moving, he started to hug the maid from behind. He also tried to kiss her.

The pale blue lift takes only 40 seconds to reach the top floor, but it must have felt a lot longer as the maid struggled to free herself from her molester's tight grip.

When the lift doors opened on the 14th floor, she tried to dash out, but Tajuddin was faster.

Blocking her path, he pressed the button for the ground floor.

He then continued to hug her from behind and even fondled her breasts.

Luckily for the maid, a resident was waiting for the lift on the seventh floor.

And the resident, who only wanted to be known as Mr Poh, saw Tajuddin molesting the maid through the glass panels of the lift doors.

Mr Poh, 45, recalled: "I got a big shock when I saw the cleaner hugging her. Although I couldn't hear what they were saying, she looked like she was struggling."

As Mr Poh got into the lift, Md Tajuddin suddenly took his hands off the maid and moved aside.

"While we were in the lift, he didn't dare to look at me. The maid didn't say anything, but her eyes were red.

"I too kept quiet because I wasn't sure if they were lovers," Mr Poh, who is unemployed, explained in Mandarin.

When they reached the ground floor, Tajuddin returned to his work, as if nothing had happened.

Terrified, the maid waited at the lobby for a resident to take the lift with her.

And when she returned to her employer's flat, she didn't dare tell anybody about it.

But then, at about 6.45 am, she had to go to the market to deliver more flour.

At the ground floor, she bumped into Mr Poh, who was just returning from breakfast. As the maid did not speak much English, he got another Indonesian maid to translate for him.

Mr Poh said: "I asked her, did the cleaner really touch you? She said yes - many times."

But the maid was worried she might be sent home if she reported the matter to the police.

Mr Poh said: "I told her, don't be afraid. What if you meet him again? This time you can count yourself lucky I saw it and he stopped."

He later accompanied her to Kim Seng Neighbourhood Police Post to make a report.

That same day, police called Tajuddin in and she positively identified her molester.

Tajuddin was also found to have overstayed after his special pass had expired, almost two years ago.

In court on May 4, Tajuddin turned aside with pain written on his face when he heard that he would be caned.

Copyright © 2000 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.