A train ride on the MRT can be quite the experience. As with any form of public transport, all characters from different walks of life can be seen in your daily commute.
That being said, no one should reasonably expect to meet a man masturbating on the train. The person behind the obscene act was fined $2,000 by a court on Wednesday (10 Nov).
Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reported that the man had masturbated on the train on at least 3 occasions, with 2 of them occurring during a train ride on the Circle Line.
The other occasion was noted to have happened on the train between Yio Chu Kang and Ang Mo Kio MRT stations in Aug this year.
The man, who hails from Malaysia, pleaded guilty to 2 counts of performing an obscene act in court on Wednesday (10 Nov).
The first incident happened in Apr 2021 where he was on a Circle Line MRT train headed towards Harbourfront.
He faced a woman near the cabin door and masturbated in his pants, only stopping when the woman finally alighted at Serangoon station.
After his first target left, he moved on to find another victim — a woman in the same cabin. He then moved towards the centre of the cabin, stood in front of her, and started masturbating again.
He’d used his bag as a means to cover his hand movements from view.
The woman then moved to another cabin while a man who was in the same cabin saw the perpetrator’s acts and confronted him.
The perp was asked to alight at the next station, and complied after refusing to at first.
He was then reported to the police for causing a public nuisance.
The second incident happened in Aug this year between Yio Chu Kang and Ang Mo Kio stations.
Similarly, he located his victim and was described by CNA to have been aroused by looking at her. He then proceeded to masturbate in his pants, again, with a bag to cover his actions.
The obscene act was seen by another woman in the cabin who shielded her niece’s eyes from the scene. She proceeded to report the incident to train staff later.
The man alighted at Khatib station after he was done.
The man was unrepresented in court where he asked for a light sentence citing his unemployment as one of his defences.
He also claimed to have no money and requested a default sentence in lieu of the fine.
Despite his pleas, a court sentenced him to be fined $2,000, which he paid.
For each charge of committing an obscene act, he could have faced up to 3 months in jail and fined.
It must be quite a traumatic experience for these women who had to become the victims of a man’s inability to keep to himself.
If you ever find yourself in a position where you can stop these acts, do step in no matter how daunting it may be. Most of the time, one brave soul can inspire others to stand up for what’s right too.
We hope the man gets help for his issues and that he doesn’t repeat such acts in public again.
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Featured image by MS News.
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