Nurse who molested schoolgirls used masking tape to avoid leaving fingerprints behind

SINGAPORE — He would lurk at overhead bridges in the Sengkang area and prey on schoolgirls, distracting them before molesting or exposing himself to them.

Aldrin Illias, 39, stuck masking tape on his fingers to ensure his fingerprints or DNA would not be left on his victims’ clothes.

He would strike at about 6am to 7am when the girls were on their way to school, thinking they would not have time to report the incidents to their parents.

He also targeted girls in primary or secondary school, avoiding those in junior college as he thought they were more likely to report the offences.

Between 2015 and July last year, Aldrin, who was a staff nurse with Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, claimed 15 victims aged 10 to 16.

Caught in an ambush on July 21 last year, he was sentenced to three years’ jail and 10 strokes of the cane on Friday (April 6).

Aldrin mostly committed his offences near the middle of overhead bridges so he could flee the scene more easily, he admitted. He would wait near the bridge to see who was going up and down the stairs before deciding to strike.

To avoid being recognised by his previous victims, he would alter his appearance with the spare change of clothes and a pair of spectacles in his bag.

In his last offence on July 14 last year before being caught, he approached his 10-year-old victim from behind, asking which school she was from. When she turned around to reply, he reached out to squeeze her breast. She froze as Aldrin fled, then continued to walk to school, where she informed a teacher about the incident.

A week before that, Aldrin approached an 11-year-old girl when she was descending the stairs and told her there was something on her shirt. As she looked down, he reached out and grabbed her breast, smiled at her and walked away.

That same morning, he molested two other victims aged 11 and 15 in separate incidents by simply reaching out his hand when they were passing him on the overhead bridge.

On the day of his arrest, two plainclothes police officers went up to him as he was waiting at the foot of an overhead bridge near Block 326 Anchorvale Road. When asked what he was doing there, Aldrin replied that he was smoking and taking a walk.

He then tried to remove the masking tape attached to his fingers and place the strips in his sling bag, but two strips dropped onto the floor. Asked what they were, he said he did not know.

After further questioning, he admitted he had touched a few students.

Aldrin derived his ideas from watching videos of others flashing in 2015. He was found by doctors at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) to be suffering from frotteuristic and exhibitionistic disorder. The former refers to the act of touching or rubbing one’s genitals against another person without consent, in order to derive sexual pleasure.

The IMH report also stated he may have been experiencing work-related and marital stress leading up to the offences.

For use of criminal force with the intention to outrage the girls’ modesty, Aldrin could be jailed for up to five years, on top of caning or a fine.