SINGAPORE, Aug 24 — Motorcyclist Kenneth Cheong wanted to help a drunk woman vomiting by the roadside, but another motorcyclist Abdul Haqem Abdul Majid tricked him into believing that he was her neighbour and that he would help her instead.
He then lifted the semi-conscious victim, carried her to a nearby block of flats and molested her at a staircase landing between the 11th and 12th floors.
Suspicious that Abdul Haqem was taking so long to return to his motorbike, Cheong went in search of them. He then saw Abdul Haqem taking advantage of her and shouted at him.
Today, Abdul Haqem, 31, was sentenced to one year and two months’ jail for his actions. He received another 18 weeks’ jail for other unrelated offences.
The 42-year-old woman cannot be named due to a court order to protect her identity.
Abdul Haqem pleaded guilty to one charge each of molestation and abduction, as well as seven other charges of misappropriation of property and unauthorised modification of computer material.
Three other similar charges were considered for sentencing.
He had taken several bicycles at various locations, including outside the National Library, and changed his ex-girlfriend’s Facebook account password in order to read her conversations with friends.
He addressed her as ‘Nina’
The court heard that the accused took advantage of the situation when he saw the woman on the evening of July 26 last year.
She had drunk two bottles of Heineken beer at her workplace before sharing two more bottles of Martell at a club with her friends.
After leaving the club heavily intoxicated, she took a taxi home and threw up on a roadside grass patch when she alighted.
Kenneth Cheong, then 25, rode past her on his motorcycle as she lay face down on the ground. He dismounted, tapped her on the shoulder and asked if she was okay. She vomited again in response.
While Cheong waited for her to be done, Abdul Haqem got down from his own motorcycle. Seeing that she was drunk and unable to move, he told Cheong that she was his neighbour, repeatedly calling out "Nina” to give that impression.
She did not respond and continued vomiting.
Abdul Haqem then lifted her to a standing position and carried her towards the lift lobby of the nearby block of flats.
When Cheong saw Abdul Haqem struggling to carry her, he repeatedly offered to help but the other man shooed him away.
After carrying her to the staircase landing, he unbuttoned her dress and tried to perform a sex act on her, but she pushed him away. She was slipping in and out of consciousness by then.
Police cameras caught his actions.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Grace Teo told the court that he then positioned his hips in between the victim’s legs and moved his hips towards the victim’s private parts.
Cheong’s suspicions grew as time passed. He then took the lift up the block, then went down the stairs looking for them. He was on the 12th storey when he witnessed what Abdul Haqem was doing.
When he shouted and walked down the stairs towards them, Abdul Haqem stood up and "zipped up his pants in a hurried manner”. He left at about 2am when Cheong told him to do so.
Cheong then called the police to report a case of attempted rape and remained with the victim, who did not know where she was, until police officers arrived.
He told them that Abdul Haqem had left on a Class 2B scooter.
Took seven bicycles
In a separate offence, Abdul Haqem reset his 41-year-old ex-girlfriend’s Facebook account password on April 17 in 2017.
He had tried to log into her account at City Backpackers Hostel to view her Messenger conversations.
He did not know the password at first so he sent a request to reset it, then logged into her email account to access the reset link. He logged out after looking through her messages with her friends.
She filed a police report that day.
Abdul Haqem was arrested on April 28 that year, after the police conducted an ambush to catch him for misappropriating a bicycle.
The owner who lost the bicycle saw a post on e-marketplace Carousell advertising it for sale at S$200 (RM610). He then contacted Abdul Haqem to buy it back, and the police caught him when they met.
Court documents showed that Abdul Haqem misappropriated seven bicycles in total from December 2016 to March 2017. — TODAY
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