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Former Gojek driver gets jail for molesting unconscious 16-year-old passenger
The offences came to light when the driver lodged a police report for an unrelated traffic accident and the police saw an obscene video in his phone gallery.
Daniel Ong Soo Eng arrives at the State Courts on Mar 30, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)
Lydia Lam
30 Mar 2026 12:55PM (Updated: 30 Mar 2026 01:19PM)
SINGAPORE: A Gojek driver who took a video of himself molesting a 16-year-old intoxicated passenger in his backseat got arrested months later when he filed a police report over a traffic accident and a police officer saw the obscene video in his phone.
Daniel Ong Soo Eng, a 60-year-old Singaporean man, was sentenced to 17 months' jail on Monday (Mar 30). Of this, two months was in lieu of four strokes of the cane as he cannot be caned due to his age.
He pleaded guilty to one count of molestation, with another two charges for voyeurism and recording an obscene film taken into consideration.
The court heard that Ong was a private-hire driver with Grab and Gojek from 2019 to April 2022.
He was married and had two adult children at the time of the offence on Feb 26, 2022.
The victim had gone to a party the night before and was very drunk when she left at about 2.40am. She booked a ride on Gojek and Ong was assigned to be her driver.
He picked the victim up and observed that she was intoxicated. The victim fell asleep.
When Ong arrived at the victim's destination, he parked along the road and tried to wake her.
The victim did not stir despite Ong's efforts. He waited for some time but she remained asleep.
He then looked at her and thought that she looked "sexy", the court heard. He decided to take photos of her with his phone so he could engage in sex acts later.
For about 20 minutes from about 3am, Ong began taking photos of the victim, who was slumped in the backseat in a state of partial undress.
He adjusted her clothes and limbs to reveal her private parts and took multiple photos.
Ong then decided that he wanted to touch the victim and stood outside the rear passenger door to do so.
He held up his phone and took a video that lasted almost three minutes, showing himself molesting the girl.
He then returned to the driver's seat and watched YouTube videos until the victim woke up. She paid her taxi fare and left about 10 to 15 minutes later.
At the time, the victim did not know what had happened.
TRAFFIC ACCIDENT
A few months later on Apr 6, 2022, Ong was involved in a traffic accident in Woodlands.He took photos of the vehicles involved in the accident and went to a police station to lodge a report.
While doing so, he handed over his phone to the police officer as he wanted to show him some photos of the accident.
The police officer was looking through the media gallery on Ong's phone when he saw some obscene files in the gallery. This included a video showing Ong touching the victim's private parts.
The officer first helped Ong to lodge a report about the accident before inviting him to be interviewed by the police over the obscene files.
Ong was arrested that same day and his handphone was seized.
SENTENCING ARGUMENTS
The prosecution sought 14 to 17 months' jail, along with two to three months' additional jail in lieu of four to six strokes of the cane.Ong cannot be caned as he is above 50.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Claire Poh said the case involves an "opportunistic assault by a private-hire driver committed against his inebriated passenger" and is "deserving of a stiff sentence".
She said the degree of sexual intrusion was "extremely high" and that Ong had abused the trust placed in him as a transport provider by gratifying his lust on his passenger.
Defence lawyer Prakash Otharam from Ashvin Law asked for 13 months' jail, with no extra imprisonment in lieu of caning.
He said his client "makes no excuses" for the offences and is very remorseful.
"This matter has been hanging over my client's head for the last few years and has already caused a lot of stress," he said.
"He has actually suffered great losses on account of this mistake he has committed. His marriage has fallen apart, as your honour is aware, he has separated from his wife and his daughter. He's lost his job and he's also lost his house."
He asked the court to take his plight into consideration. Earlier, he had tried to seek another adjournment of the case as his client was trying to follow the family court's direction to have his flat transferred to his daughter's name as part of divorce proceedings.
The court declined this for various reasons, including that he had been granted several adjournments before with no foreseeable conclusion in sight.
In sentencing, Principal District Judge Lee Lit Cheng said Ong had "preyed" on his passenger, who was unconscious throughout and did not even know she had been sexually assaulted.
She said Ong would have gotten away "scot-free" had it not been for the "fortuitous" discovery in April.
She said Ong had abused his position as a public transport worker and invaded the victim's privacy to a high degree. The victim was clearly identifiable as Ong had taken a close-up photo of her face.
She said caning of four strokes would have been ordered if not for his age.
The judge allowed Ong to defer his jail term until April to settle his affairs, with his older brother acting as his bailor.
For molestation, he could have been jailed for up to two years and fined. He was not caned because of his age.
