Repeat sex offender jailed 17 weeks for exposing his genitals to 11-year-old girl in public

SINGAPORE — Just three weeks after his release from prison last year, Ong Wei Le tried to chat up an underaged girl and eventually exposed his private parts to her at a traffic light junction in Jurong.

For this, the 24-year-old Singaporean was jailed for 17 weeks on Friday (March 4). He was also given an enhanced jail sentence of one day for breaching his remission order.

Ong, who had worked as a dishwasher, pleaded guilty to a single charge of exposing his genitals for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification. Another charge of criminal trespass was taken into consideration for sentencing.

District Judge Sharmila-Sripathy Shanaz flagged a “worrying cycle of reoffending that appears to be escalating”, noting that Ong has committed numerous sexual offences since 2012 — including aggravated molestation.

An Institute of Mental Health (IMH) psychiatrist also found that he lacked remorse, had a high risk of reoffending and has paedophilic inclinations.

His latest victim is 11 years old and cannot be named due to a court order to protect her identity.

The court heard that Ong approached her at about noon on Dec 15 last year while she was walking alone near Jurong Regional Library. He asked the girl where Jurong Point mall was and also tried to find out where she lived, what her school was and where she was going.

He told her that he wanted to watch a movie and asked where the cinema was, while she continued to walk.

When they reached a traffic light junction along Jurong Town Hall Road, she stopped and waited for the pedestrian light to turn green. He then stood in front of her and pulled down his shorts and underwear, exposing his genitals to her.

She screamed and he told her not to do so, pulled up his shorts and fled.

The IMH report also stated that Ong has a mild intellectual disability with antisocial traits. However, this had no contributory link to his offences and he was aware that what he did was wrong. He was also not of unsound mind at the time.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Hidayat Amir told the court that Ong’s past criminal record included a 30-month stint in a juvenile home in 2012 for aggravated outrage of modesty, a reformative training stint for molestation, as well as multiple jail terms of between nine and 20 weeks.

The prosecutor then highlighted that he was jailed 20 weeks in October 2020 for similarly exposing himself to two girls, aged nine and 10, in a lift on separate occasions.

“He has grown more brazen by engaging (the latest) victim initially and exposing his penis in a public area in broad daylight,” DPP Hidayat added.

In mitigation, Ong, who was not represented by a lawyer, told the court that he should “think about the victim’s feelings” and that he had fully reflected on his “embarrassing” actions.

He said that his father has encouraged him to continue attending therapy sessions at IMH and does not want him to end up in prison again.

Ong added in his mitigation plea: “Whenever I’m stressed, I shouldn’t do all these silly things. I should share my stress to my MSF (Ministry of Social and Family Development) counsellor instead of just keeping quiet and get into trouble.

“My father (says) I should be (an) angel, not devil. Angel (teaches) me positive ways, devil (teaches) me negative ways. I should look forwards, not backwards.”

Those convicted of exposing their genitals to a minor under 14 can be jailed for up to two years, and fined or caned.