Jail, caning for paedophile who preyed on children at playgrounds, void decks

SINGAPORE — Posing as a peddler of massage lotions, perfumes and light sticks around various neighbourhoods, the paedophile would target young children at void decks and playgrounds, and on some occasions, enter their homes to molest them.

For carrying out “despicable” acts on six children between the ages of seven and 13 that were “truly the stuff of nightmares”, Tahir Hassan was on Friday (Aug 12) sentenced to 11 years and six months in jail, and given 15 strokes of the cane.

The 49-year-old, who is married with three step-daughters, started developing an urge to grope young children around 1995. He admitted to targeting Malay children — both boys and girls — specifically as he could communicate with them.

In September 2003, Tahir, a former Cold Storage employee, approached two siblings at a void deck and found out that they were on their way to buy sweets.

He led one sibling — an eight-year-old girl who was visually impaired — to a staircase landing on the second floor, after telling her younger brother to leave first.

There, Tahir asked the girl about her vision, and cooked up a lie about a cure. He then asked her to pull down her shorts and sexually assaulted her.

On another occasion in October 2010, he used a similar trick on a pair of neighbourhood friends — two girls aged seven and 13 — hanging out at a void deck, and offered a “spiritual treatment” to boost their intelligence. Once they were hooked, Tahir instructed them to find certain leaves and flowers, and led them to the 39th floor of a nearby block.

After that, he wore a pair of surgical gloves and groped the 13-year-old girl.

Another pair of siblings let Tahir into their home in October 2015, after he pretended to be a door-to-door salesman peddling light sticks. No one else was at home then, and he proceeded to molest the 10-year-old boy and his seven-year-old sister.

Deputy Public Prosecutor James Chew labelled Tahir, who faced six proceeded charges and had another six charges taken into consideration during sentencing, a sexual predator.

“These offences were committed in a predatory manner. They took place either in the homes or in the community spaces of the heartlands — places that children have the right to feel safe at,” he said.

While Tahir had been diagnosed with paedophilia, the prosecution highlighted that a psychiatrist had assessed that his condition had not impaired his ability to be rational.

In sentencing Tahir, District Judge Crystal Ong said: “For any parent with young children, what the accused person here did is truly the stuff of nightmares.”

She added that it was particularly deplorable that he picked “easily beguiled” younger children, whom he could talk to in his mother tongue, to entice or persuade them to let him into their home.

In his defence, Tahir said that he was driven to act by voices he heard, but also admitted to knowing his actions were wrong.