Student charged with exposing himself, masturbating in NUS library

SINGAPORE: A man has been charged with exposing himself and masturbating in front of a woman in a library at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Xiong Jiawei, 27, was charged last Thursday (Oct 24) with one count of insulting the modesty of a woman.

According to the charge sheet, he had unzipped his pants, "revealing (his) half-exposed penis", and masturbated in front of the victim.

The incident is said to have occurred at around 6.20pm on Apr 10 this year in the Science Library at NUS.

An NUS spokesperson confirmed in a statement to CNA on Wednesday (Oct 30) that Xiong is a student at the university, but has been suspended.

NUS takes a serious view of any misconduct by its students, the spokesperson told CNA.

There are also security measures in place to safeguard the well-being of students on campus, said the spokesman.

"We conducted an internal investigation into the incident and offered pastoral care to the affected students," said the spokesman.

A Board of Discipline was convened in June to look into the matter and disciplinary sanctions were imposed on Xiong.

These include suspension of candidature for two semesters, mandatory assessment by a psychiatrist and mandatory counselling.

"The student will also need to be certified medically fit before being allowed to resume studies after the suspension," said the spokesman. 

The disciplinary sanctions will form part of Xiong's formal educational record at NUS.

Xiong is set to return to court for a pre-trial conference on Nov 5.

The penalties for insulting a woman's modesty are a jail term of up to a year, a fine, or both.