Prison officer who molested inmate gets 27 months’ jail

SINGAPORE — A logistics officer at Admiralty West Prison was jailed 27 months on Friday (Aug 12) for molesting an inmate, after a judge rapped him for contravening the tagline of his workplace — “aspire to make a difference in the lives of inmates”.

“On the contrary, his numerous acts of molest on an inmate, ironically and regrettably, destroyed the life of the very inmate he was meant to help rehabilitate,” said District Judge May Mesenas, referring to the officer, Mohamed Faris Osman. He has been suspended from his post after he was charged.

The inmate, a 20-year-old Chinese national, had been serving his jail term of about seven months, when he was molested by Faris repeatedly last year.

Faris, 47, held the rank of sergeant, and was the officer supervising a small team of inmates carrying out maintenance and cleaning work. His victim was part of the team.

The molest took place over nine separate occasions between July and October last year. Faris started by sliding his hand down the inmate’s upper arm while moaning, and progressively got bolder, groping the victim’s buttocks , making sexual innuendos and touching his private parts.

On two occasions, he even told the inmate: “Officer sayang (Malay for love) you, why you no sayang officer?”

Through it all, his victim made clear his outrage, and even reported sick for two days to avoid Faris.

It was only after another officer noticed the inmate’s red eyes and depressed mood that the matter came to light.

During the nine-day trial, the inmate explained that he had earlier kept mum about Faris’ actions because he was afraid that his release from prison would be delayed due to a complaint against a prison officer.

He was also worried about possible reprisal from Faris.

Faris, however, denied the offences. Having served in the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) for 27 years, he said during the trial that he would not be “so silly” to risk punishment.

Instead, he claimed to have patted the inmate on the hip to prompt him to speed up, and to have made contact with the inmate’s groin during an accidental swing of his hand.

District Judge Mesenas slammed Faris for abusing his position of authority and trust.

“Far from providing opportunities for the rehabilitation of the victim, he chose instead to harass him repeatedly during opportune moments to molest him.”

She also noted that the victim was relatively young, and had been advised by fellow inmates against reporting Faris’ actions for fear of having his sentence “increased”.

“Being a prison inmate, …he was clearly vulnerable as he was unable to retaliate whenever the accused molested him, for fear of reprisal,” the judge stressed. “The accused was a civil servant in the SPS. He should therefore be held to higher standard than the ordinary man in the street.”

In response to queries, the SPS said that it took a serious view of misconduct by its officers. A police report was made and Faris was redeployed to an administrative position when the allegations surfaced.

He was interdicted from service after being charged, and disciplinary proceedings have started “with a view towards his dismissal”, said the SPS.