Straits Times, Singapore, 18 March 1999

Volunteer molested teenage boys in home

A MALE volunteer at the Jamiyah Children's Home was sentenced yesterday to 18 months' jail and five strokes of the cane for outraging the modesty of three teenage boys at the home.

Hanafi Mohamed, 36, an aircraft technician, was found guilty of four charges of outraging the modesty of two of the boys after a week-long trial.

Hanafi, who also coached the boys in football at the home in Bartley Road, had admitted earlier to one count of outraging the modesty of the third teenage resident.

This boy, now 16, woke up in his dormitory when he felt a sharp pain in his groin after midnight on May 21, 1997 -- to find that Hanafi was performing oral sex on him.

The boy told the home's welfare officer about the incident later that morning.

During the trial, the court heard that Hanafi also performed oral sex on another boy, now aged 14, on May 20, 1997, while the boy was asleep in his dormitory.

A 15-year-old boy also testified that he, too, woke up one night in late 1996 or early 1997, to find Hanafi touching his penis.

He said he kicked about and moved away, and Hanafi then closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.

Yesterday, Hanafi's lawyer, Mr R. Kalamohan, pleaded for leniency, saying that his client is a diabetic with a 14-year-old son.

He told reporters later that Hanafi had been twice married and divorced.

In a reply to queries from The Straits Times, the superintendent of Jamiyah Children's Home, Mr Mohamed Yusof Ismail, said yesterday that the molest incidents involving Hanafi were "isolated and unfortunate".

The home has "reviewed and enhanced" its security system, by getting more security officers, he said.

This was on top of its regular system which included a 7 pm curfew, roll calls, and night patrols by security officers, he added.

Corpun file 3462

Straits Times, Singapore, 18 March 1999

Cheat and rapist gets jail, caning

He made a woman friend hand over cash and jewellery to rid herself of a curse, and rapes her daughter in a flat

A MAN cheated his woman friend of $11,500 in cash and jewellery in 1997 by claiming he could help her get rid of a black magic curse.

He also raped and molested her teenage daughter in her Bukit Batok flat and made the girl perform oral sex on him.

Noordin Omar, 46, an area supervisor in a bumboat business in Pulau Seking, was sentenced yesterday by the High Court to a total of 18 years' jail and 20 strokes of the cane for his crimes.

The court heard that after the first time he raped the daughter, Noordin was able to force himself on the girl again -- by threatening to tell her mother to send her to a girls' home.

Noordin had got to know the 37-year-old woman, an assistant supervisor in a warehouse company, in 1994.

She later confided in him that she suspected someone had put a curse on her. He then told her that he knew a bomoh who could help her.

From July 1997, he began calling regularly at her Bukit Batok flat.

He gave her various letters that he said were from the bomoh. And he asked her to hand money over to him, which he said he would bury on Pulau Seking to get rid of the curse on her.

The woman believed him and gave him $10,000 in cash and $1,500 worth of jewellery in all between August and December 1997, which he kept for himself.

That same year, Noordin raped the woman's 13-year-old daughter twice, in November and December. He raped her again on Jan 12 last year, a few days after she turned 14.

He also made the girl perform oral sex on him in December 1997.

And he molested the girl twice, in November 1997 and in January last year. He was sentenced to 10 years in jail and 12 strokes for statutory rape, or raping a girl below 14 years of age.

For raping the girl after she turned 14, he got eight years' jail and eight strokes of the cane; and for making her perform oral sex on him, five years' jail.

For cheating the girl's mother, he was sentenced to 18 months' jail.

His sentences for the two rape charges are consecutive; the rest are concurrent.

Three other charges were considered in sentencing: one of statutory rape and two of molest.

Noordin has previous convictions for housebreaking and theft by night.