Hospital cleaner jailed for molesting paralysed patient who could not speak
File photo of the State Courts in Singapore. (Photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)
SINGAPORE: A 56-year-old man was jailed two years and two months on Friday (Apr 22) for molesting a paralysed patient in the hospital where he worked as a cleaner.
The victim, a 42-year-old woman, could not ask for help as she was completely paralysed and could not speak or move.
The victim and hospital cannot be named due to a gag order. The offender's name is not being reported as it could lead to the identification of the hospital.
District Judge Kessler Soh said the degree of sexual intrusion in the offence was high. The man had touched the victim's breast under her pyjamas for 15 seconds.
The judge gave no weight to the offender's diagnosis of schizophrenia, as a psychiatric evaluation found no causal link with the offence committed.
The total sentence included two months' jail in lieu of four strokes of the cane, as the offender is above 50 and cannot be caned.
The man last month pleaded guilty to using criminal force on the victim to outrage her modesty. The court heard that the cleaner had been working at the hospital since 2020.
At about 4.30pm on Apr 27 last year, he was mopping the floor when he saw the victim lying in bed with the first two buttons of her pyjama top undone. He put her hand under her top, molesting her.
At this time, a nurse who was helping another patient saw the man touching the victim and shouted to ask him what he was doing. The man removed his hand without saying anything and left the ward to continue his work.
The nurse then approached the victim and asked if she was okay. The victim reacted by looking at her.
The nurse asked the victim if the man had touched her breast, and the victim blinked three times. The nurse understood this to mean "yes" as it was their method of communication.
The offender later admitted to police that he had touched the victim's breast. He claimed to have molested her because he forgot to take his medication and "heard voices" telling him to touch her.
However, he was found not to be suffering a relapse of schizophrenia and not to be of unsound mind during the offence.
He was liable to receive an enhanced penalty of up to four years' jail for committing the offence against a vulnerable person, as well as a fine.
