Former Sembawang Town Council cleaner jailed 6 months for molesting maid

SINGAPORE: A 29-year-old Bangladesh national was on Thursday (May 31) sentenced to six months imprisonment for molesting a maid from Indonesia.

Mia Momen, who was then a cleaner with Sembawang Town Council, noticed the 30-year-old victim walking past him, and took a liking to her, the court heard.

The victim cannot be named due to a gag order.

Mia requested that the victim, who worked in the vicinity, be his girlfriend. However she rejected his advances as she was married.

Still, the accused continued to harbour hopes of entering into a relationship with the victim, the court heard.

On Oct 28 last year, at about 10.50am, the victim was returning home from the market when she ran into Mia. Mia followed her into the lift and touched her hair, after pressing the buttons for several floors.

The victim asked Mia politely not to touch her hair. Mia then went behind the victim and put his hands on her chest. The victim was unable to push him away as she was carrying groceries in both hands, the court heard.  

The victim decided to squat down to evade Mia’s touch.

“The victim was shocked and outraged by the accused’s act and reported the incident to her employer who advised her to lodge a police report,” according to court documents.

Mia was also charged with molesting the same victim a second time, about a month later. This was taken into consideration in his sentencing.

For molest, he could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, received strokes of the cane, or faced any combination of such punishments.