Man gets jail for molesting junior colleague after chalet party

SINGAPORE: A man was sentenced to one year and three months' jail on Thursday (Jun 2) for molesting his junior colleague after a work party at a chalet in 2018.

He was found guilty last month after claiming trial to one charge of using criminal force to outrage the woman's modesty.

The man has filed an appeal against the conviction and sentence. He cannot be named as this could lead to identification of the victim, whose identity is protected by gag order.

The victim, who was in her early 20s, joined the company less than a month before the incident. She worked in the same team as the offender, who is now 50.

In 2018, the company held a party at a chalet that started in the late afternoon and went on until around midnight.

Those at the party were allowed to stay overnight if they wanted, and several remained to chat after the party had ended.

The victim, who had drunk alcohol, fell asleep on a couch around 11pm. Another person there then helped her upstairs to rest in one of the bedrooms.

The prosecution's case is that sometime that night, the offender entered the room while the victim was sleeping, kissed her and squeezed her chest.

According to documents from the prosecution, during the trial, the victim testified that the next thing she remembered after falling asleep was someone asking if she was okay.

She mumbled and fell back asleep. She then felt many light touches around her upper body, but did not know who was touching her as she did not open her eyes to check.

She turned her head and saw another colleague, identified as PW1 in court documents, prop herself up in the next bed. She heard voices before falling asleep again.

The victim woke up later when she felt a hand squeeze her chest "aggressively" while someone kissed her mouth.

She opened her eyes when she realised what was happening, saw the offender for "a brief second" and identified him from his features.

She estimated that the assault lasted for three to five minutes. She tried to push the man away but was unable to do so due to her tiredness.

The assault suddenly stopped when she heard voices coming from the door.

The victim said she did not tell anyone what happened that day as she was "in shock", because the offender had always been nice to her.

She later spoke to PW1 and another colleague about the events of that night, and from what they told her, believed that he had intentionally assaulted her.

She decided to report the matter to the police and her human resources department.

At trial, both colleagues testified as prosecution witnesses. PW1 gave evidence that she was resting in another bed in the same room as the victim that night.

She said that she saw the offender in the room, sitting on the victim's bed and leaning close to her, and heard a noise that sounded like kissing.

PW1 felt shocked and frightened, and pretended to wake up by pushing herself up from the bed. She said that the offender sat up quickly and spoke to her briefly before leaving the room.

She then went downstairs to look for others to help her get the victim home. She and two other colleagues went back upstairs to the room.

PW1 testified that when they entered, she saw the offender sitting on the victim's bed. He stood up very quickly and walked out of the room.

During the trial, the offender denied committing the offences, and said that he had only entered the room for innocuous reasons.

He claimed that he had climbed into the bed the victim was in to sleep off a dizzy spell.

He denied knowing who was in the bed, and said that he only touched the other person on the hip or shoulder to try and make space for himself.

The man could have been jailed up to two years, fined or both for using criminal force to outrage a person's modesty. He cannot be caned as he is 50.