Repeat offender, 57, gets a year's jail for molesting teen twice on public buses

SINGAPORE — A man with previous convictions for molesting women on public transport was sentenced to a year in jail on Wednesday (July 19) for outraging the modesty of a 14-year-old girl on a bus.

Ho Ah Chye, 57, molested the teenager, who was in her secondary school uniform, on a bus in April, a month after having molested the same girl in the same bus.

He pleaded guilty to one count of outraging the girl's modesty, with a second charge taken into consideration for sentencing.

Ho had committed similar offences in 2019 and 2021, and was sentenced to five months' jail in total for both offences.

After his release from prison in February last year, he was referred to an Institute of Mental Health (IMH) psychologist for psychotherapy sessions.

It was not stated if this was a court mandated requirement to prevent Ho from repeating his offences.

WHAT HAPPENED

The court heard that on April 20 this year, Ho, who was a coffee shop assistant at the time, boarded an SBS Transit double-decker bus to get to work.

When he went up to the upper deck, he saw the 14-year-old seated at the last row.  

The victim's name cannot be published due to a court order to protect her identity.

Ho recognised her as the teen he had molested a month before on a bus of the same service number.

Although there were other available seats, Ho chose to sit between the teenager and another passenger.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Huo Jiongrui said that the victim also recognised Ho as the person who had molested her a month ago, but was scared and did not know what to do.

As the bus was travelling along the Tampines Expressway, Ho placed his right hand on the teenager's left thigh over her skirt.

She pushed his hand away, but Ho continued to touch her, this time on her left lower hip.

Even after the victim pushed him away once more, Ho grew bolder and placed his right hand under her skirt to touch the middle of her inner left thigh.

Disgusted by Ho's touches, she pushed his hand away yet again. Court documents also stated that she was scared as she had no way to escape with Ho blocking her way to the aisle.

Around this time, Mr Koh Ming Bin, 23, who was sitting on the other side of Ho happened to glance in his direction and saw Ho's right hand under the teenager's skirt.

Mr Koh also noticed that the victim appeared uncomfortable, said DPP Huo.

Just as Ho attempted to place his hand under the victim's skirt again, Mr Koh asked Ho what he was doing. 

Ho then quickly retracted his hand and attempted to get up from his seat to leave, but Mr Koh blocked Ho from the aisle and called the police.

Mr Koh then went down to inform the bus driver about the incident.

Ho followed Mr Koh down to the lower deck where the former repeatedly said: "What are you doing? I did nothing wrong."

The bus driver stopped at a bus stop along Pasir Ris Drive 1 and instructed all passengers to alight except for Ho, Mr Koh and the teen. He then locked the doors of the bus and waited for the police to arrive.

After he was arrested by the police, Ho was remanded at IMH for a medical examination.

A medical report stated that Ho has mild intellectual disability, but he was fully aware that what he did was morally and legally wrong.

The report also stated that Ho is likely to reoffend in an opportunistic manner where he would select a victim whom he thought would be less likely to lodge a complaint and he would not get caught.

In delivering her sentence, Principal District Judge Jill Tan said that while the degree of sexual exploitation was not of the worst kind, it was certainly not minimal as Ho had touched the victim three times and had persisted even after she pushed his hand away.

The judge said that in her view, a 12-month sentence would be appropriate for the protection of public transport users and young females, and serve as specific deterrence to Ho.

For molesting the teenager, Ho could have been jailed up to three years, fined or caned, or with any combination of these punishments.