Man accused of molesting woman in Kallang Bahru says he did not touch her as his hands were full

David Sun
The Straits Times
Nov 24, 2022

A worker here allegedly molested a woman in the corner of a housing block in Kallang Bahru on Monday.

On Thursday, Jegatheeswaran Karthick, 35, was charged with one count of aggravated outrage of modesty in certain circumstances.

The Indian national is alleged to have wrongly restrained a 25-year-old woman by pushing her to the corner of a wall and molesting her at around 12.40pm on Monday.

The police said they were alerted at 10.30am on Tuesday to a case the previous day, where a woman was allegedly molested by an unknown man in the vicinity of Kallang Bahru.

Investigations aided by footage from police cameras established the suspect’s identity. He was arrested within seven hours of the report.

“We have zero tolerance towards sexual offenders who threaten the safety of the community,” said a police spokesman on Wednesday.

“Offenders will be dealt with sternly in accordance with the law.”

On Thursday, Jegatheeswaran told the court through an interpreter that he did not touch the woman as he had a water bottle in one hand and his mobile phone in the other.

He also said he had been working in Singapore for 12 years and had not been involved in any such incident before.

The judge said he would have the opportunity to state his defence in due course.

The prosecution told the court a medical report and a report from the Health Sciences Authority which involved a swab test were still pending.

Jegatheeswaran has been offered bail of $15,000 and is expected to be back in court on Dec 22.

If convicted, he may be jailed for up to 10 years and caned.

The Straits Times

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