A 73-year-old man is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to three counts of outrage of modesty. He allegedly molested three teenage girls at Northpoint City at different locations within the mall, on the same day.
His victims, who are between 13 and 15 years old, were all wearing their school uniforms at the time.
All three filed police reports after their traumatic encounters.
According to TODAY, 73-year-old Lim Cheng Kiat carried out the crimes on 23 Feb this year.
He noticed his victim, a 15-year-old girl in school uniform, when she walked past him with her friend at Basement 2 of Northpoint City Mall.
Lim turned to cross paths with them again, bumping into the girl’s left cheek with his right shoulder. He then “pinched” her chest over her blouse and hurriedly walked away.
Realising what the elderly man did, the girl rushed to the mall’s service counter and alerted a staff member. The employee subsequently assisted her with making a police report.
Later on the first floor, the same thing happened after Lim walked past a 13-year-old schoolgirl and her friend.
This time, he allegedly apologised before leaving the scene hastily.
Reeling from what happened, the girl tried to find him in the mall but couldn’t, noted TODAY.
The teenager later told her mother, who took her to a police station to lodge a report.
Lim’s third victim, a 15-year-old girl who was also in school uniform, was reportedly at Subway buying food when he approached her. The fast food restaurant is at Basement 2 of Northpoint City.
Source: Google Maps
As the girl was looking at the menu, Lim allegedly nudged her on the shoulder before gripping her chest over her blouse. Like before, he then left without saying a word.
In shock, the girl immediately cried to her friend. She later reported a case of molest to the police.
After studying CCTV footage, police managed to identify Lim and arrested him at 11.11pm the same night.
TODAY reported that Lim admitted to consciously touching the victims and viewed his actions as “trivial” as he did not “rape” them.
He additionally confessed to bumping into them with the intention of touching their chest and passing it off as accidental.
When the District Judge asked if he wanted to enter a mitigation plea to lower his sentence, Lim reportedly said that doing so was cowardly and that “it is okay to die in prison”.
Due to the severity of his offences and his recalcitrance, the court has postponed Lim’s hearing on 18 May to 20 June.
They apparently need more time to consider corrective training and preventive detention report. These would allow the court to impose heavier punishment which may include a longer prison term.
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Featured image adapted from Wikimedia Commons.
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