People’s Park Centre molester, 84, offers victim’s husband S$10 to let him go, gets jailed instead

SINGAPORE — An 84-year-old man went to People’s Park Centre with the intention of having his breakfast and doing a spot of shopping, but ended up molesting a 47-year-old woman instead.

When the woman’s husband apprehended him, Poh Seng Khian offered him S$10 to let him go. The husband refused to do so.

On Tuesday (Jan 7), Poh pleaded guilty to one charge of outraging the woman’s modesty, and was sentenced to 18 weeks’ jail. Neither the woman nor her husband can be named due to a court order to protect her identity.

The court heard that the incident happened at around 11.50am on May 12 last year, when the victim and her husband were walking towards the link bridge on the second floor of the shopping centre in Chinatown.

As the husband was walking much faster than his wife, he later turned around to wait for her. It was at this point that he saw Poh walking towards her.

Just as Poh was about to pass her, he deliberately stuck out his right arm and used his elbow to bump into her left breast.

Court documents stated that it was not accidental and Poh knew what he was doing. The walkway itself was not crowded at the time, and there was no reason for people to come into physical contact with each other.

On seeing this, the woman’s husband immediately detained Poh.

As they waited for the police to arrive, Poh apologised for touching the woman’s breast and offered her husband S$10 to release him, but the husband rejected it.

Poh was arrested when the police arrived.

The punishment for outraging the modesty of another person is a jail term of up to two years, a fine, caning, or any combination of these punishments. As Poh is above the age of 50, he cannot be caned by law.