Teen who masturbated in front of women at HDB block gets probation

SINGAPORE: A teenager, who developed sexual urges for women he saw around his housing block, exposed his genitals to various victims and once poked a woman with a stick to get a better view of her face. 

Sooriyamoorthi K, 17, was sentenced to 21 months' probation on Tuesday (Oct 29) for his actions.

He had pleaded guilty to one charge of insulting a woman's modesty and another of using criminal force.

Another two charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that the teenager started developing sexual urges towards women he saw around his block from April this year, and "decided to fulfil these urges by exposing his penis to these women and masturbating".

The location of the block was redacted from court documents and the identities of the victims are protected by gag order.

Past midnight on Apr 28, Sooriyamoorthi felt "sexual urges" and was unable to sleep, so he decided to walk about the block to look for women to show his privates to.

He went to the 11th floor, where he looked through a window and saw a 35-year-old Vietnamese woman sleeping.

He was unable to see her face, so he took a 90cm-long wooden stick that was outside the unit and extended it into the flat through the window.

He prodded the woman's shoulder three times with the stick, hoping that she "would move her body, thereby giving him a better view of her face to see if she was pretty".

If she was, he intended to expose himself and masturbate in front of her, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Michelle Lu.

The woman woke up and grabbed the stick, and Sooriyamoorthi fled.

TRIED TO FLASH ELDERLY WOMAN'S MAID

Sooriyamoorthi also developed sexual urges for a domestic helper who stayed with a 70-year-old woman on the sixth floor, and fondled himself in front of her at the lift landing around noon on Jun 9.

At about 6.30pm more than a month later on Jul 25, Sooriyamoorthi noticed the maid helping the elderly woman out of the flat.

Hoping to expose himself to the maid, he unzipped his pants and walked down the corridor with his privates exposed intending for the domestic worker to see him.

However, it was the 70-year-old woman that saw his exposed penis. She lodged a police report the next day.

The prosecution on Tuesday said Sooriyamoorthi has been recommended for probation, according to a probation suitability report.

She reminded the teenager not to offend again, noting that while he has been found suitable for probation, the risk of his sexual reoffending was assessed to be "moderate to high".

District Judge Eddy Tham said: "Sooriyamoorthi, I'm prepared to give you a chance at probation, but this is because you have hopefully realised how messed up your life is through this behaviour of yours."

"And you are prepared and wanting to change," said the judge.

He said the good news was that if he complied with all programmes and did not reoffend, he would have a clean record.

"However, if you waste this chance given to you, either by not complying with conditions or worse, committing a fresh offence, then this chance will be thrown away and you will be brought back to court and I will sentence you afresh," said the judge.

Sooriyamoorthi agreed.

He has to remain indoors from 10pm to 6am, perform 120 hours of community service, be placed on electronic monitoring and attend treatment programmes for his sexual offending behaviour and alcohol use.

His parents furnished a bond of S$5,000 to ensure his good behaviour during probation.

For insulting the modesty of a woman, Sooriyamoorthi could have been jailed for up to a year, fined or both. For using criminal force, he could have been jailed for up to three months, fined a maximum S$1,500 or both.