GrabHitch driver gets three weeks’ jail for molesting 17-year-old passenger

SINGAPORE — A 17-year-old student who took a GrabHitch ride from Bukit Batok to the Selegie area got more than she bargained for, when the driver stroked her thigh.

Before he molested the teenager on January 15 this year, Kaliaperumal Panner Selvam – who was sentenced to three weeks’ jail on Friday (Oct 26) – asked if her nails were real, and touched her hand.

The victim was in the front passenger seat of his Hyundai Avante while they were waiting for two other passengers, a mother-and-daughter pair, at Bukit Batok West.

When she pulled back her hand, Selvam, 47, commented that her hands were soft.

At this point, he decided that the other two car-poolers were a no-show and drove off.

During the journey, Selvam – an engineer and father of two children aged eight and 13 – continued to touch the teenager, who cannot be named due to a court order. He rubbed her hand and reached for her thigh, while telling her that the veins on her thigh were obvious.

The victim showed her discomfort by shifting her sitting position, and placing her hands on her thigh to prevent Selvam from touching her.

She also alighted a distance away from her intended destination at 1 Selegie Road as she was afraid of further harassment.

When the student was alighting at Sunshine Plaza along Bencoolen Street, Selvam stroked her thigh when she was handing him money for the trip, and insisted that she did not have to pay him the S$12 fare.

The victim placed the cash on the centre compartment of the car, but Selvam took the money and put it into her bag.

The victim told her 18-year-old boyfriend about the incident, and he called the police.

Court documents showed that Selvam, an Indian national and Singapore permanent resident, was a part-time Grab driver for a few months before he became a GrabHitch driver.

The implementation of the private-hire car drivers’ vocational licence in July last year made it impossible for him to continue as a Grab driver.

According to the Land Transport Authority’s rules for the regime, Singapore permanent residents and foreign Work Pass holders need to be employees of companies or businesses providing chauffeured services.

Selvam joined GrabHitch as he needed to supplement his income because his employer, offshore drilling contracting firm Transocean Eastern, had no projects between January and May last year. GrabHitch is a non-commercial social carpooling service open to most people with a car, and a valid driving licence.

When contacted, a Grab spokesperson said Selvam has been banned, but did not comment on the number of such incidents involving Grab or GrabHitch drivers.

The spokesperson added that Grab takes the safety of passengers and drivers seriously, and encourages all drivers and riders to “treat each other with care and respect”.

For stroking the victim’s thigh, Selvam could have been jailed for up to two years and fined, or caned.

His lawyer Ramesh Selvaraj sought an S$8,000 fine. He said Selvam, who had pleaded guilty, was an “upright and honourable man” who had received two appreciation letters from the police – one for handing over a wallet he found, and another for returning S$1,000 in cash that was left behind at an automated teller machine.

But District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim agreed with the penalty sought by Deputy Public Prosecutor Andre Ong, and sentenced Selvam to three weeks’ jail.