Veteran athletics coach acquitted of molesting athlete in 2013 after appeal

SINGAPORE — A veteran athletics coach who was sentenced to 21 months’ jail in 2020 for molesting an athlete in 2013 has been acquitted of both charges after appealing to the High Court.

Mr Loh Siang Piow, 79, also known as Mr Loh Chan Pew, was acquitted of two charges of using criminal force on the then-18-year-old woman at Tampines Stadium to outrage her modesty.

In a judgment on Thursday (March 30), Justice Hoo Sheau Peng said the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

The alleged victim, named only as Ms C, was the sole witness in the case and her testimony had to be unusually convincing to secure a conviction.

Justice Hoo said there were “serious doubts as to the veracity of Ms C’s allegations”.

Ms C was an aspiring national-level athlete at the time. She began training intensely in early 2013 and was coached by Loh, who also trained athletes from various schools, including a junior college and a university.

According to Ms C, Mr Loh molested her under the guise of giving her massages after their individual training sessions on Feb 24 and March 15 in 2013.

Justice Hoo pointed out that at that time, there was a prevalent practice in the athletics community for coaches to give trainees massages after intensive training.

She said that Ms C’s messages contain inconsistencies with her version in court about the events. She had also “exaggerated” aspects of the events.

“Even in court, her account of where she was touched has been unclear, and her account that she allegedly experienced an involuntary orgasm from the violation of her body seemed to be an embellishment,” said Justice Hoo.

She also pointed to Ms C’s seemingly “jovial mood” hours after allegedly being molested.

Ms C had also shifted positions on the date of the second offence at trial and was unable to recall material details or even where she had been touched.

“While I agree that a victim of sexual crimes cannot be straitjacketed into an expectation that he or she must act or react in a certain manner, this does not obviate the need of the court to examine the internal consistency of the victim’s testimony, especially when the victim’s post-offence behaviours appear clearly inconsistent with the gravity of the alleged offence,” said Justice Hoo.

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She said Ms C lodged the police report in June 2016, after reading a newspaper report about a coach being accused of molest.

Thinking the offender could be Mr Loh, she decided to lodge the police report because she was worried that other new trainees might suffer her plight while training under Mr Loh.

However, the newspaper report concerned a different coach.

“What I find troubling is that Ms C’s communications with (another party) at that time revealed some strongly worded condemnation of sexual offenders in general,” said Justice Hoo.

She said that if Ms C had misunderstood Mr Loh’s conduct in 2013, there is the distinct possibility that over the three years, this misunderstanding might have deepened, especially after more conversations with other people.

“Unfortunately, I could not discount the possibility that there was a build-up of mistrust towards Mr Loh over the three years. Precipitated by the newspaper report, and coupled with her strong sentiments against sexual offenders, the complaint was eventually made in 2016,” said Justice Hoo.

She allowed the appeal and cleared Mr Loh of both molestation charges.

On the practice of coaches massaging trainees after intensive sessions, Justice Hoo said the community, including coaches, should “rethink and review the appropriateness of such a practice”.

“Should this continue to be a necessary practice, there should be proper safeguards adopted to minimise the potential for any abuse by the coaches of trainees, or in some cases, to prevent genuine misunderstandings between coaches and trainees in the conduct of the massages,” she said. CNA