Man, 37, gets 2 weeks' jail for exposing himself to woman walking dog
SINGAPORE — As he was early for work, Tan Chen Chek decided to go for a walk in his neighbourhood and ended up unzipping his pants to expose himself to a woman he had targeted, who was out walking her employer's dog.
On Wednesday (May 10), the 37-year-old Malaysian pleaded guilty to a charge of intentionally exposing his genitals to his 31-year-old victim and was sentenced to two weeks' jail.
Due to a court order, the victim's name and the location of the offence cannot be published.
WHAT HAPPENED
On the morning of Oct 21 last year, the victim noticed Tan walking past her four times as she was taking her employer's dog for a walk.Just as she was heading back to her residence, she saw Tan walking towards her again, holding a backpack over his groin area.
When he got closer, Tan moved his backpack away to expose his private parts to her.
Deputy Public Prosecutor David Menon said that in doing this, Tan had intended for the victim to see his genitals without her consent.
Alarmed, the victim ran back home while Tan fled the scene.
Details of Tan's eventual arrest were not included in court documents.
Principal District Judge Victor Yeo told the court that he had to consider the principle of deterrence when deciding the appropriate sentence.
He raised several points that were covered in the mitigation plea, which included the claim that Tan had "no premeditation" and had been "nervous and undecided" before committing the act.
The judge was unable to accept Tan's claims and found his actions to be premeditated because Tan could have chosen to go "straight to the MRT station to go to work".
Instead, he opted to continue "eyeing the victim" and walked past her several times before deciding to commit the offence. This, in his view, cannot be seen as an act done on the "spur of the moment".
The judge also said that the court should send a "clear signal" to would-be offenders that a jail term can be imposed, as a "stronger deterrence" to such acts.
For intentionally exposing his genitals, Tan could have been jailed for up to 12 months or fined, or both.
