Jail for man who abducted drunk clubber and was stopped in sexual attack by stranger

SINGAPORE: A motorcyclist who came across a drunk woman by the side of the road picked the woman up and carried her to a housing block, rebuffing another stranger's offers of help and undressing the woman at a staircase where he molested her.

The stranger, suspicious that the accused had not returned to his motorbike, went to look for the victim and shouted when he saw the accused between the victim's legs.

Abdul Haqem Abdul Majid, 31, was sentenced on Monday (Aug 24) to 14 months and 18 weeks' jail for abduction, outrage of modesty and other unrelated charges including dishonest misappropriation of property.

The woman and both men were strangers to each other, the court heard.

On the night of Jul 26 last year, the 42-year-old victim drank two bottles of beer at her workplace before sharing two bottles of liquor with friends at a club.

She left the club in a taxi, heavily intoxicated, and alighted at the road across her home, where she vomited on the grass patch.

The good Samaritan, 26-year-old Kenneth Cheong Kian Yu, was riding his motorcycle along the road in Ang Mo Kio when he saw the victim lying face down.

He dismounted and tapped her shoulder to ask if she was okay, and the woman turned her head and vomited onto the tarmac in response.

At this point, Abdul Haqem rode past on his own motorcycle and saw that the victim was intoxicated and unable to move. He alighted and told Mr Cheong that the victim was his neighbour, repeatedly calling her "Nina", which was not her name.

He wanted to give Mr Cheong the impression that he knew the victim and lifted her off the road, carrying her towards a nearby block.

When Mr Cheong saw Abdul Haqem struggling to carry the victim, he offered to help, but Abdul Haqem rejected his repeated offers and shooed him away.

Abdul Haqem carried the victim to a staircase landing between the 11th and 12th floors of a nearby block. He unbuttoned her dress and knelt in front of her, molesting her.

STRANGER GREW SUSPICIOUS, WENT TO LOOK FOR THEM

Mr Cheong was waiting for Abdul Haqem to return to his motorcycle and grew suspicious as he was taking a long time. He also found it odd that Abdul Haqem had not parked his motorcycle in the car park, since he was supposedly a neighbour.

Mr Cheong took the lift up and went down the stairs to look for the pair. At the 12th floor, he saw Abdul Haqem in his sexual attack on the woman, who pushed him away.

He shouted at Abdul Haqem, who zipped up his pants hurriedly, and told Abdul Haqem to leave.

Mr Cheong attended to the victim, who did not know where she was, before calling the police and waiting with her until they arrived.

Abdul Haqem also pleaded guilty to separate charges of dishonest misappropriation of bicycles, and one count of a computer crime.

He had logged into his ex-girlfriend's Facebook account to read her messages, logging into her email account to change the Facebook password to do so.

The prosecution had asked for the jail term that was meted out, while the defence asked for not more than eight months and 18 weeks' jail, saying that Abdul Haqem pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity when the prosecution revised its charge from rape to outrage of modesty.

The judge said that the sentence asked for by the defence for molestation was lenient, as Abdul Haqem had abducted the victim after realising she was in a helpless state, and also deceived the stranger.

For using criminal force with a person intending to outrage their modesty, Abdul Haqem could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or given any combination of these punishments.

For abduction, he could have been jailed for up to seven years, fined, caned, or given any mix of these penalties.