Man jailed for sexual assault of schoolgirl, 9, in broad daylight

SINGAPORE — Heading home after school, a nine-year-old girl was waiting at a bus stop when a man approached her and told her she was “cute”.

Neo Beng Yeow, 51, then proceeded to touch her hair before grabbing the girl and forcefully kissing her on the lips. The girl tried to break free, but Neo managed to kiss her again and groped other parts of her body.

For committing an aggravated sexual assault, Neo was sentenced to 15 months’ jail and four strokes of the cane, but because he could not be caned due to his age, he was given an extra eight weeks in jail. The victim, a minor, cannot be named on court order.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Gail Wong said: “The attack on the victim occurred in broad daylight in a public place (bus stop) in the middle of the afternoon and was a brazen and outrageous act.”
Court documents showed that Neo’s offensive act was witnessed by a woman on March 1 some time after 2.30pm. 

Ms Cheryl Wong was heading to Rumbia LRT Station in Punggol when she encountered Neo at a bus stop near Block 153, Rivervale Crescent. He told her he had lost his wallet and asked her for money, but she ignored him.

Finding him suspicious, Ms Wong continued to observe him from the second floor of the LRT station. That was when she saw Neo forcibly kissing the girl and grabbing her buttocks.

Ms Wong returned to the bus stop and pulled the girl away from him. She also managed to stop Neo from escaping. 

Another passerby, identified only as Ms Mujimah, also saw Neo touching the girl’s buttocks and holding onto her right shoulder.

When questioned by Ms Wong, Neo claimed that the victim was his niece. 

The police arrested Neo on the same day. When her mother arrived at the scene, the girl was still in her primary school’s physical education attire, crying by the roadside kerb. 

Calling for an 18-month jail sentence at least, including a term of imprisonment in lieu of caning, DPP Wong labelled Neo’s actions as “inherently reprehensible”.

She said that the victim was subjected to the “disgusting act” of being kissed on the lips twice. With her “first intimate kiss stolen forcefully by a stranger”, this distorted the significance of a kiss as what it should be — “an intimate act of love and affection”.

DPP Wong noted that even after Ms Wong intervened, Neo did not apologise and even “blatantly lied that the victim was his niece to disguise his acts as bona fide acts of affection”.

The victim, greatly affected by the incident, does not go home alone after school now, and waits for her mother to pick her up. 

She said in a statement: “I am scared of other men I meet outside now. If I go to the playground to play, I don’t dare to go alone. I must go with someone else I know ... When I take the bus on my own and other strangers come near me, I will walk away.” 

For aggravated sexual assault of a person under 14 years, Neo could have been jailed up to five years and/or fined, or caned.