Man arrested in violent molest case on West Coast Way

SINGAPORE — A 22-year-old man has been arrested three days after outraging the modesty of a female victim as she walked home on West Coast Way.

On Tuesday, TODAY reported that a 26-year-old was violently attacked as she was returning to The Infiniti along the Ayer Rajah Expressway at about 9.30pm on Monday.

Over 60 officers from the Criminal Investigation Department and the Clementi police Division were involved in the investigations, which took three days to conclude.

The suspect will be charged in court tomorrow.

A police spokesperson said on Tuesday that they received a call about the incident at around 9.49pm on Monday about a case of outrage of modesty.

The victim, who cannot be named to protect her identity, was on her way home to The Infiniti condominium after having dinner with some friends at about 9.30pm when she was attacked.

The freelance designer was about 15m away from the back gate to the condominium, which runs parallel to a stretch of the Ayer Rajah Expressway, when she saw a man’s shadow behind her. As she turned around to take a look, she felt a blow to the side of her head.

“I fell down and started screaming and struggling, but the man sat on me and started punching my face repeatedly,” she said.

When she managed to look at the face of her attacker, she recognised him as the “tanned-skin” man whom she made eye-contact with, just as she got on the pathway. He had cycled past her a minute before and was wearing a light-coloured T-shirt and dark jeans.

“I thought I was in his way as he cycled past, but he actually turned back to attack me. He looked decent and I didn’t suspect a thing. I have never seen the man before.”

As she tried to break free, screaming and scratching at the face of her attacker, he turned her around, covered her mouth and nose and started “slamming” her head several times against the pavement.

“It was as if he wanted me to be unconscious and I lost my breath a few times,” she recounted.

When she pretended to have fainted, the man, whom she said was around 1.75m and of stout build, started groping her underneath her clothes. It was then that she realised it was not a robbery, but a sexual assault.