SINGAPORE, Feb 21 — Two women were charged in court on Friday (February 21) for allegedly covering up a molest case involving a female toddler at a preschool, deleting key evidence and reformatting the closed-circuit television (CCTV) system that captured the offence.
Details of the women, including their names and ages, were redacted from court documents, according to a report in Channel News Asia today.
A gag order has also been imposed on their identities and the location of the incident to protect the victim, who was about two years old at the time.
Both women face three charges each — two for obstruction of justice and one for intentionally omitting to provide information about the molest, despite being legally bound to do so.
At least one of the accused appears to have held a senior position at the preschool.
She allegedly conspired with her co-accused to delete a video clip of the incident from a WhatsApp chat between November 16 and November 17, 2023, while she was abroad.
She is also accused of failing to provide information about themolest on November 23, 2023, at around 2pm at the preschool.
Three days later, she allegedly worked with her co-accused and another person to reformat the CCTV system containing footage of the incident.
Her co-accused faces the same three charges, with allegations that she deleted the video clip from her WhatsApp chat, failed to report the offence, and helped reformat the CCTV system.
No plea was taken from either woman, and both cases are set for further mention on March 21.
Meanwhile, a man with the same name as the alleged molester is listed in the court system facing eight counts of outraging the modesty of a person under 14.
He is expected to plead guilty on March 18.
If convicted of intentionally omitting to provide legally required information about an offence, an individual faces up to six months’ jail, a fine, or both.
Obstructing justice carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison, a fine, or both.
