SINGAPORE - A tertiary student was charged in court on Friday (Oct 20) with molesting a woman in campus, criminal trespass, intruding into the privacy of a woman and dishonest misappropriation.
Weng Yixiang, 25, allegedly used criminal force to outrage the modesty of a woman in her 20s at National University of Singapore (NUS) on April 20, 2017.
He is also accused of criminal trespass into a female toilet at an NUS hostel with intent to commit the offence of insulting modesty.
This happened in the early hours of Nov 25, 2015 when he allegedly looked over a toilet cubicle partition to peep at a woman using the toilet.
He is also alleged to have misappropriated an assortment of items such as women's underwear, two boxes of bras, two night gowns, five leggings, 11 swimming costumes, 31 ladies shorts, 26 skirts, 51 dresses and 67 tops belonging to unknown women between Jan 11 and Nov 25, 2015.
The prosecution applied for Weng to be remanded at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he suffers from any mental illness, and if there is any causal link to his alleged offences, as well as his risk of re-offending.
But Weng's counsel Ho Jun Yi objected strenuously to the application. He said his client is studying and working which indicate that Weng has the mental capacity to do these things, and is not of unsound mind.
He also said Weng had seen a psychiatrist at IMH after his arrest.
District Judge Adam Nakhoda turned down the prosecution's application, and said it can make its case again after getting directions from the Attorney-General's Chambers.
The case will be mentioned on Nov 8.
If convicted, Weng faces a jail term of up to two years, fine, caning or any combined sentence for outrage of modesty.
The penalty for criminal trespass is three months' jail and a $1,500 fine; for insulting the modesty of a woman, one year's jail and a fine; and dishonest misappropriation, two years' jail and a fine.
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapo...ulting-modesty-and-dishonest-misappropriation
