Jail for 32-year-old man who molested and slapped 2 colleagues, exposed his genitals

SINGAPORE — While working as a packer, Wong Choon Heng molested his younger female colleagues before masturbating in front of one victim and slapping her face.

On Thursday (Oct 27), Wong, 32, was sentenced to six months and six weeks’ jail for his actions in June this year.

The Singaporean pleaded guilty to five charges including sexual exposure, molestation and voluntarily causing hurt. Five other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

His victims cannot be named due to court orders to protect their identities.

The court heard that Wong first targeted a 21-year-old fellow worker on June 10.

They were at a table in their workplace when he slapped her buttock over her jeans and walked away. Other staff members nearby witnessed this and it was captured on closed-circuit television camera footage.

Six days later, they had some drinks with other colleagues.

While she was talking to someone else, Wong suddenly went up to her and slapped her face before walking away once more.

Shocked by this, the victim spoke to her manager and decided to file a police report against Wong because she felt that his actions were “getting overboard”, the court heard.

Around that time, Wong also showed her a knife and said that he wanted to kill himself and his girlfriend. She felt afraid and told him not to do it.

DEMANDED TO TOUCH OTHER VICTIM

Wong’s second victim, also 21, was a staff member at a warehouse.

When she worked the night shift on June 15, Wong showed up at their workplace. The pair had drinks there with the victim's boyfriend and another colleague.

At around 3am, Wong asked the victim to smoke with him outside their work premises. The others in their group did not smoke, so they went on their own to a nearby staircase landing.

Wong then told her that he would pursue her if she was not already dating someone else. He then touched her chest.

She was shocked by this but kept quiet. Wong then said he wanted to smoke at a lower level and she followed him, not knowing what else to do.

There, he threatened to slap her unless she let him touch her breasts. He also demanded to know if she was rejecting him because of her boyfriend.

She pushed his hands away when he kept stretching them out to molest her.

At this point, he abruptly unzipped his pants and began masturbating in front of the victim. He then grabbed her wrist and tried to pull it towards his chest, but she resisted.

Upset by this, Wong slapped her several times before leading her to a staircase door. He told her that he would not let her pass through the door unless she let him touch her.

When she stood her ground, he let her leave. She later made a police report at the Hougang Neighbourhood Police Centre.

On Thursday in court, Wong told the court that he was “going through a low period” after breaking up with his girlfriend.

He added that he tried to convey his apologies through his manager because it was inappropriate to contact the victims directly.

District Judge Paul Chan encouraged Wong to continue seeking treatment at the Institute of Mental Health, after he said that he had promised his counsellor to return and learn how to better manage his emotions “if such things happen again”.

For outrage of modesty, Wong could have been jailed up to two years, fined, caned, or given any combination of the three.

For voluntarily causing hurt, he could have been jailed up to three years or fined up to S$5,000, or both.