One of the 'worst' predators ever, says judge
By Ong Dai Lin, TODAY | Posted: 10 November 2009 0656 hrs

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SINGAPORE: He molested nine young girls in a span of 16 months - making Huang Shiyou's case "one of the worst" to have come before the courts, according to Justice V K Rajah.

And so the defence's plea that a 32-year jail term and 24 strokes of the cane were "manifestly excessive" was dismissed on Monday by the Court of Appeal, which found no reason to disagree with the sentence given by the trial judge in April.

Huang, 23, had preyed on girls aged nine to 14 in Tampines, from April 2007 to July last year.

His first four victims were molested in a lift.

The former National Serviceman forced some of the other victims to follow him to staircase landings, where he groped them, made them perform oral sex on him and tried to rape them.

He was arrested after his ninth victim, an 11-year-old, filed a police report.

Huang's lawyer Chia Kok Seng argued that a shorter jail term of around 20 to 22 years should be "adequate" to keep his client away from society and for him to be rehabilitated.

Mr Chia said: "The question is what term of custody will be fair and give a reasonable prospect to the accused who has rehabilitated and doesn't become a menace to society."

But Justice Rajah said there was no medical evidence to show that the paedophile was unlikely to commit the offence again after release from jail: "When we have cases of multiple sex offences, apart from deterrence and retribution, the principal consideration is also prevention and incapacitation.

"He (Huang) committed multiple offences over a period of several months - the assumption is that he is a menace to society."

Justice Rajah added that the sentence was not "crushing" since Huang would be in his early 40s when released from jail - assuming the latter behaves well and is given a one-third remission of his sentence.

Huang did not show any emotion at the hearing, which his father and uncle attended. - TODAY