Jailed for trespass and molestation

A 44-year-old kitchen helper who barged into a woman's flat and molested another in a lift was jailed a total of 21 months yesterday.

Ong Bun Hock, 44, who said he wanted to befriend the women as he found them attractive, admitted to trespass at the home of a 27-year-old Filipina on March 22 and pleaded guilty to touching a 24-year-old in a lift in Yishun Street 11 less than two hours later.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Vikneswaran Kumaran told the court that Ong had finished drinking at a coffee shop in Yishun at about 7am when he noticed the Philippine national walking nearby and followed her.

About 20 minutes later, he saw her enter a ground floor unit in Yishun Street 22. He pushed her on the back, causing her to almost fall, and asked her where her room was. She pushed him away with her shoes and shouted to alert her room-mate. Ong fled.

At about 9.15am, he was at the void deck of another block in Yishun when he saw another woman going to the lift landing. He followed her into the lift and pressed the eighth floor button.

He suddenly touched her near her groin and said there was a hole in her shorts. She looked down and said there was none. Instead of getting out on the eighth floor, he began to ask her about her parents.

When she asked him why he was still in the lift, he pressed the button for the 11th floor

She made a phone call to her husband. As she got out on the 10th floor, Ong touched her buttocks and commented that she was pretty. A third charge of insulting modesty was considered.

Ong has previous convictions for theft, drug-related offences, robbery and trespass.

This article was published on April 17 in The Straits Times.

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