Man who made repeated advances on woman restrained, molested her when ignored
Wan Ting Koh
·Senior Reporter
Fri, 11 February 2022, 3:49 pm
A woman with a man behind her. (PHOTO: Getty Images)
SINGAPORE — A man who took a liking to a maid living in the same building as he did kept making advances towards her.
Islam Sofiqul’s actions escalated to the point where he restrained the woman and molested her.
Islam, a 34-year-old Bangladeshi, was jailed for three years and nine months, and sentenced to five strokes of the cane on Friday (11 February).
The construction worker pleaded guilty to two counts of molest while wrongfully restraining the victim, with one count of molest considered for his sentencing.
The victim, a 31-year-old Myanmar national, lived on the seventh floor with her employer, while Islam resided on the third floor. The victim cannot be named to protect her identity.
Islam first saw the maid between January and February 2019 when he saw the maid in a lift. He found her attractive and wanted to get her number.
He waited for the maid to exit the lift at the basement and finish washing her employer’s car, then re-entered the lift with her. While in the lift, he asked the woman for her mobile number. The maid was uninterested, claiming she did not have a mobile phone, and that she had forgotten her mobile number.
Islam said he would give her his number, but the maid did not wait for him and immediately returned to her unit when the man exited the lift on the third floor.
Islam next saw the maid in May 2019 when the latter was waiting at the lift lobby. Islam followed her into the lift and took out a slip of paper with his mobile number. He placed it into the right pocket of the woman’s shorts before exiting on the third floor. The woman threw the paper away as she was not interested in Islam.
On 18 July 2019, Islam noticed the maid as she left the residence to buy groceries and followed her to the shop and back. Islam pestered the maid for her phone number and Facebook account but she ignored him.
He followed the maid into their block’s lift before placing his arms around her and kissing her lips. The maid struggled but was unable to break free.
When the lift stopped at the third floor, Islam dragged the maid out by her wrist and hugged her at a staircase. The maid bit Islam on his right arm, prompting him to release her. The maid then ran back to the lift, with Islam trailing and trying to speak to her.
While they were in the lift, Islam grabbed the maid around the waist with his right arm and groped her breast over her clothing. The maid felt pain and began crying. When the lift reached the seventh floor, Islam released the victim and she went home.
The offences were captured on a CCTV camera.
The victim did not tell her employer about the incident as the latter’s nephew was at home and she felt embarrassed. The next day, the victim contacted her friend, also a maid, and the matter was related to her employer.
The victim was then brought to lodge a police report on 19 July 2019. Islam was arrested the next day.
Sentencing Islam, District Judge Marvin Bay noted that the offender had displayed a measure of premeditation and stalking behaviour towards the victim.
In her victim impact statement, the victim said that her ordeal has left her fearful of going out alone at night and taking the lift with strangers. The victim is now fearful of men who look similar to Islam
Even though the victim felt better as time passed, she still tries to suppress memories of the incident whenever she walks past the void deck or takes the lift.
"There is of course ample premeditation, albeit that Mr Islam Sofiqul’s initial intention had been to get to know her, and he had resorted to committing the offences after these repeated overtures were rebuffed," said DJ Bay.
"It is essential that appropriate deterrent sentences be imposed where offenders have resorted to acts of molestation in their refusal to take ‘no’ for an answer.”
For committing molest with restraint in a lift of a building, Islam could have been jailed between three and 10 years and caned.
