Man who flashed at woman has jail term increased
SINGAPORE — The High Court yesterday increased the jail term of a 64-year-old flasher from two weeks to three months, after prosecutors successfully appealed against the “manifestly inadequate” earlier sentence.
Chan Khin Fatt’s tears, his claim that he flashed his victim because of an urgent need to urinate, as well as his promise to turn over a new leaf, cut no ice with Judicial Commissioner (JC) See Kee Oon, who noted that the offender’s history suggested a pattern of re-offending.
Chan had exposed himself in broad daylight to a woman on July 11 last year at a void deck in Toa Payoh Central. He made no attempt to shield his penis when the victim saw him. After she shouted, he said “sorry” before fleeing and was arrested the next day.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Lin Yinbing pushed for three months’ jail for the offence of making a gesture intended to insult the modesty of a woman. Pointing to Chan’s string of past offences committed from 1981 to 2013 — outrage of modesty, insulting the modesty of a woman and performing an obscene act in public — Ms Lin said the District Judge had no basis to disregard Chan’s past offences when he had not stayed crime-free throughout the years.
There is no principle of law that an old antecedent should be disregarded, although less weight may be attached to it if a person remains crime-free for a long period, said Ms Lin.
The sentence must serve the purpose of deterring Chan, given his propensity to target females and commit sexual offences, she said. Similar cases have also received harsher sentences than Chan, who had pleaded guilty only on the first day of trial, Ms Lin said.
Chan’s claim that he offended because he urgently needed to urinate was merely an afterthought as it was not recorded in court documents, she added.
Chan shed tears when he addressed the judge and pleaded for leniency in order to be reunited sooner with his wife and grandson, but JC See felt there was no real mitigating factor in his case. NEO CHAI CHIN
