While teaching a student how to park several years ago, a private driving instructor molested a 20-year-old woman.
On Monday (20 Feb), 61-year-old Soh Guan Hup was sentenced to six months’ jail.
The court heard that he intends to appeal against the sentence, reported
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), the victim took 24 manual driving lessons from Soh in 2017 and 2018.
Typically, she would board his car near Bukit Gombak MRT station and have lessons near Bukit Batok Driving Centre, including the Lim Chu Kang area.
The victim claimed that Soh would crack inappropriate jokes during lessons.
Once when they were driving towards Lim Chu Kang, he said he could rape the victim there, and nobody would know because of how quiet and dark it was.
On 3 Mar 2018, Soh taught the victim how to park on a side road in Choa Chu Kang.
The victim then felt him press a finger against the side of her breast. She described the feeling as someone “just pressing, pressing, pressing”.
According to CNA, she was so affected she could not park the car, and Soh had to take control of the steering wheel.
She later confided in her boyfriend via text, saying Soh had touched her breasts and thigh during her lessons.
After the incident, the victim also told her parents about the molestation.
Her father wanted to lodge a police report, but her mother wanted to get more information from the victim first.
The victim did not give more details and eventually chose not to lodge a police report.
On 8 Mar 2018, just before her final driving lesson and driving test, she and her boyfriend confronted Soh.
Soh denied the accusations, catching the victim off-guard. Her boyfriend took over the confrontation.
Subsequently, the victim proceeded with the final driving lesson with Soh and took her test.
Source: Drivinginstructor.sg
She paid him the car rental fees and stopped interacting with him after that.
It was only later in 2020 that the victim confided in a friend about the molestation.
He told her any cases of outrage of modesty can be reported at any time. The victim then lodged a police report.
CNA reported that Soh denied he had touched the victim, claiming that any physical contact was accidental.
He said he avoided physical contact as it would be dangerous in a driving situation.
Soh also stressed that he had taught over 1,200 students for 30 years and had very few complaints.
In court, the defence argued there was no evidence of substantial physical or psychological harm to the victim.
She continued her final driving lesson and only reported the case 34 months later.
However, the prosecutor explained that she had gone on with her last lesson for practical reasons. She also needed Soh’s car for the driving test.
She reported the incident much later because the incident continued to weigh on her, proving psychological impact, said the prosecutor.
The judge agreed that Soh abused the trust placed on him as an instructor.
He also molested the victim on the pretext of pointing at the side mirror.
On Monday (20 Feb), Soh was found guilty of one count of outrage of modesty and sentenced to six months’ jail.
He intends to appeal against the conviction.
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Featured image adapted from Drivinginstructor.sg.
He was, however, allowed to retrieve the data from his phone.
She explained that her intention was to share the unique learning opportunity with her colleagues.
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The mother later called the driver to apologise for her outburst.