Chef brazenly sexually assaults 11-year-old girl in restaurant
A 63-year-old chef in Singapore has been sentenced to eight and a half years in jail for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl in a restaurant while other staff and customers were present.
Kassim Juhamat pleaded guilty on 26 Aug to one charge of sexual assault by penetration.
Three other charges involving the same victim and incident were taken into consideration during sentencing.
These included two charges of molestation and one charge of committing an obscene act with the girl.
The sentence included six months’ jail in place of caning, as Kassim is above the age of 50 and cannot be caned, according to the Straits Times (ST).
Assault happened at restaurant while staff and customers present
The incident occurred on 27 June 2025 inside a restaurant located within a local shopping mall.
Kassim worked as a chef at the establishment alongside a female relative of the girl.
Source: doidam10 on Canva, for illustration purposes only.
According to the court, the victim had frequently visited her relative at the restaurant and became acquainted with Kassim, whom she called “Uncle Kassim”.
The identity of her relative cannot be disclosed due to a gag order protecting the victim’s identity.
At around 4.15pm that day, the girl visited the restaurant and sat beside Kassim, who was resting at a corner table.
Other staff members and customers were present at the time.
Victim asked offender to scratch her lower back, but he molested her
Feeling an itch on her back, the girl had asked Kassim to scratch her lower back. However, after doing so, he allegedly moved his hand under her shirt and asked if he could touch her chest.
The victim repeatedly said “no” and leaned away to avoid him, but Kassim allegedly used his other hand to touch her.
When she tried to leave, Kassim allegedly held her hand tightly and kissed her on the mouth.
He then allegedly sexually assaulted her while they remained seated at the table and forced her to participate in an obscene act.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Mavis Ng said the victim felt disgusted and tried to pull her hand away, but Kassim held onto it tightly.
Kassim allegedly only released her hand at around 5pm. Before she left, he told her not to tell anyone about what had happened.
Girl later disclosed incident to her relative
The victim intended to tell her mother about the incident but fell asleep before she could do so.
When she returned to the restaurant the following day, her relative noticed that she was behaving differently towards Kassim and asked what happened.
The girl then disclosed the assault.
The relative confronted Kassim, who initially denied the allegations.
He later admitted to the offences after being told that the matter would be reported to the police and CCTV footage from the restaurant would be checked.
The restaurant manager subsequently lodged a police report on behalf of the victim.
Kassim was arrested on 29 June 2025.
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