Man gets jail for asking nurse to 'help' him in the toilet, exposing himself
Once he was in the toilet with the nurse, the patient said in a low voice: "As a man, I have my own personal needs, and I need you to help me."
File photo of the State Courts of Singapore. (File photo: CNA/Jeremy Long)
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SINGAPORE: A patient who was in hospital for liver inflammation asked a female nurse to follow him into the toilet for a shower, before saying suggestive words to her and stripping naked.
Charles Teng Wei Yian, a 44-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced to five weeks' jail on Friday (Jan 30) for one count of insulting the modesty of the nurse with his words and gesture.
The court heard that Teng was admitted to a public hospital ward for treatment of liver inflammation from Sep 10 to Sep 23, 2024.
During his stay, he had a urine bag surgically inserted into his body. He was told to seek nurses’ help when using the toilet to ensure the tube remained in place.
On the night of Sep 15, 2024, Teng pressed the call bell while lying in bed.
The victim, a 26-year-old nurse, responded to his call. Teng told her that he would like to take a shower.
The victim offered to get a male nurse to help him, but Teng responded: "You cannot follow me, is it?"
The victim again offered to get a male nurse, but Teng replied: "I have something to tell you."
As some patients raise medical issues with nurses that they had omitted to tell doctors, the nurse did not find this unusual.
She carried Teng's urine bag and followed him to the toilet.
As there were other patients around, the victim closed the toilet door.
Teng then said to the victim in a low voice in Mandarin: "As a man, I have my own personal needs, and I need you to help me."
The victim understood him to mean that he wanted her to perform a sex act on him.
She felt alarmed and outraged, and immediately declined. She drew the shower curtain between them while still holding onto the urine bag.
While the victim was looking for a suitable place to hold the urine bag as Teng prepared to shower, Teng suddenly took off his clothes and stepped out of the shower area.
He was naked and exposed himself to the victim, asking her to scrub his back.
The victim felt even more alarmed and outraged at what she saw and quickly looked away.
She wanted to leave the toilet but felt duty-bound to assist Teng. She agreed to scrub his back once he started his shower, but he kept talking to her instead.
He asked if she was married and if she could keep the request for the sex act a secret.
The victim became very scared and told Teng that she would be bringing it up to her management.
Despite her fear, the victim felt unable to leave Teng behind because of her duty as a nurse.
Teng began to shower, and she helped him to scrub his back despite her fear and discomfort. She later helped him back to his bed.
The victim subsequently lodged a police report against him.
NURSES ARE VULNERABLE: PROSECUTOR
The prosecutor sought eight to 10 weeks' jail for Teng, saying there is strong public interest in deterring such acts against nurses.
"Nurses, in the course of their work, will have to help patients with toileting and showering. This case shows just how vulnerable nurses are to such forms of criminal conduct," said Deputy Public Prosecutor Lynda Lee.
She said the act was "no fleeting act of indiscretion" and the offending conduct happened in a confined space.
Teng was represented by a lawyer from the Public Defender's Office, who sought three weeks' jail.
District Judge Nicholas Lai said this case was "somewhat different" as the charge encapsulated two acts - the utterance of words and the gesture of stripping naked and exposing himself to the victim.
Both were done with the intention to insult the modesty of the victim, but the prosecution and defence had initially relied on cases that predominantly involved only the uttering of words and not both.
They later filed case precedents for gestures that insulted a person's modesty on the judge's direction.
Judge Lai noted that the offence was committed in a public hospital and perpetuated on a nurse.
"Nurses ought to be given full respect and protection for the difficult and arduous work that they do," he said. "What Mr Teng did clearly crossed the line."
He noted also that there was a degree of premeditation as Teng turned down the victim's suggestion to get a male nurse to help with the shower not once but twice.
He found that Teng had showed persistence in his offending conduct.
For insulting the modesty of a person, he could have been jailed for up to a year, fined, or both.
