Singapore man gets jail, caning for molesting teen and minors, forcing two to touch his private parts while recording on phone

SINGAPORE, Aug 15 — On separate occasions, a man approached two children and a teenager to ask them if they knew of any nail salons nearby.

As they responded, Ong Kian Peng would then grab their hands to take pictures of them. In two cases, he also directed their hands to touch his private parts.

Yesterday, the 32-year-old was sentenced to 15 months’ jail and two strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to one count of using criminal force and two counts of outrage of modesty of two children under the age of 14.

Another charge of outrage of modesty was taken into consideration during sentencing.

The court heard that Ong has a mild intellectual disability. However, a report by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) stated that this had no contributory link to his offending.

The victims cannot be identified due to a court order.

What happened

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Lu Huiyi told the court that on February 2 this year at around 5.50pm, Ong was walking around West Mall in Bukit Batok while waiting for an appointment with his social worker.

He then spotted a 15-year-old girl along a walkway and asked her if she knew any nail salons in the mall.

The victim responded that she did not. Ong then grabbed her hand and placed it on his left palm.

He then stroked her fingers and used his mobile phone to take a photo of her fingernails.

DPP Lu said: “(The victim) pulled her hand away and moved away from the accused.

“The accused followed her and asked her to place her hand on his lap. (She) refused.”

The girl’s mother, who was in a nearby store, confronted Ong. He then left and headed to a cafe to meet his social worker at about 6.30pm.

The girl’s mother tried to find Ong, but could not. However, when they headed to the cafe to calm down, the girl noticed that Ong was also there.

The girl’s mother then called the police, who attended to the scene and seized Ong’s mobile phone.

DPP Lu said that the police discovered a video in Ong’s phone that captured him grabbing a child’s hand and directing the child to touch and tickle his private parts.

The child was later discovered to be a nine-year-old girl whom Ong approached on December 12 last year in Bukit Batok.

This other girl was walking towards a nail salon where her mother worked when Ong grabbed the girl’s arm and asked where he could find a nail salon.

She told Ong that her mother’s salon was nearby.

Ong, who was recording this encounter on his mobile phone, then guided the girl’s hand to touch his private parts.

Feeling scared and anxious, the girl pulled her hand away and left.

DPP Lu said that Ong approached a third victim — an 11-year-old boy — who was sitting at a playground in Bukit Batok on May 13 this year.

Ong asked the boy if he knew a nail salon nearby, as well as where he did his nails and where he lived.

Feeling uncomfortable, the boy stood up to walk away. However, Ong grabbed his arm and placed the boy’s hand on his right knee and took photos of his hand.

The boy broke free and tried to move away, but Ong followed and grabbed the boy’s hand. Ong then snapped a photo of the boy’s hand that was placed on Ong’s private parts.

The boy later managed to run away. His mother made a police report the next day and Ong was arrested.

Knew what he was doing

DPP Lu sought a sentence of 10.5 to 11 months’ jail and caning.

She noted that some of Ong’s victims were “especially young”, that he had guided them to touch his private parts and that he had recorded his offences.

Ong’s lawyer, Mohamed Sarhan from the Public Defender’s Office, argued that Ong should not be liable for caning and called for a shorter sentence.

Sarhan said that although the IMH report stated there is no contributory link between his mild intellectual disability and his offending, the report highlighted Ong’s remorse and genuine fear of the proceedings.

“Caning would be an excessive punishment,” he added.

However, District Judge Kelly Ho pointed out that the report also stated that Ong knew his actions were wrong and that Ong had targeted children.

This was because “adults can bring (him) straight to the police station” while children were unsure of how to react.

For each count of outraging the modesty of any person under the age of 14, Ong could have been jailed for up to five years, fined, caned or any combination of the three.

For using criminal force, he could have been jailed for up to three months or fined up to S$1,500 (RM5,050), or both. — TODAY