NUS student charged with masturbating in front of woman in science library; university suspends him for 2 semesters

SINGAPORE — A 27-year-old student from the National University of Singapore (NUS) was charged on Oct 24 with masturbating in front of a woman at the university’s Science Library.

Xiong Jiawei allegedly unzipped his pants to do the obscene act on April 10 at about 6.20pm. The library is located at Block 10, Science Drive 2.

Court documents did not state the alleged victim’s age or whether she was a fellow student. She cannot be named due to a court order to protect her identity.

An online search showed that Xiong, a Singaporean, was from the university’s chemistry department.

In response to TODAY’s queries, an NUS spokesperson said that it had convened a board of discipline in June to look into the matter and mete out disciplinary sanctions.

Xiong has been suspended for two semesters, and was ordered to undergo mandatory counselling as well as psychiatric assessment. He will also need to be certified medically fit before being allowed to continue studying after the suspension.

These sanctions will be part of Xiong’s formal university education records.

The spokesperson added: “The university takes a serious view of any misconduct by our students. We conducted an internal investigation into the incident and offered pastoral care to the affected students.

“Security measures are also in place to safeguard the well-being of our students on our campuses.”

The incident happened in the midst of a nationwide conversation earlier this year about sexual misconduct on university campuses, after NUS undergraduate Monica Baey took to Instagram in April to publicise a peeping tom incident involving her.

Afterwards, NUS announced a slew of measures to boost security on its campus. This includes covering gaps in shower cubicles, increasing the number of security guards at hostels and installing new locks at the entrances of restrooms in hostels.

Shortly after, an NUS undergraduate was charged with filming a female student showering in their hostel.

Xiong will return to court on Nov 5 for a pre-trial conference. If convicted of intending to insult the woman’s modesty, he could be jailed up to a year, or fined, or both.

In a similar and separate case, a 17-year-old was sentenced to 21 months' probation on Tuesday for masturbating in front of women at a public housing block.