A 37 year old man from Malaysia by the name of Makesvaran Visuranatham was hauled up to court and pleaded guilty to three charges, one of using criminal force, exposing himself intentionally to a woman and also insulting her modesty.
There is a fourth charge that will be taken into consideration.
Repeatedly touched her
On 2 May 2021, the 30 year old woman boarded the train at Raffles Place MRT.
She found a corner seat and sat down on it, while Makesvaran sat on her left.
He then used his elbow to nudge the victim on her waist, and then touched her body between her armpit and waist again. She initially ignored his actions for the first time as she thought that it was unintentional.
He used his elbow to touch her for the third time after showing her his phone and saying that he was late for work due to falling asleep while on the train ride.
He then asked her how many more stops were there to Jurong East and was replied ‘seven’ by the victim who proceeded to move away to another cabin to sit.
However, Makesvaran followed her to the other cabin and sat beside her and repeated his question again and she replied him ‘four or five more’ before moving to a grab pole.
Flashed to her
While Makesvaran was facing her, he intentionally exposed his privates for her to see without her consent and also made an explicit gesture to her.
Upon seeing this, the victim walked away again and stood in front of the train door but this time, Makesvaran followed her and positioned himself at the glass panel facing her and flashed himself again.
Police were alerted
After they had reached Jurong East Station, Makesvaran alighted first and then turned to face the victim on the escalator and made another explicit gesture to her.
This was when the victim had enough and screamed at him, grabbing him on his T-shirt to prevent him from escaping.
The station master of Jurong East station then phoned the Police which resulted in Makesvaran’s arrest.
Five to six weeks jail asked by prosecution
In court, the prosecution asked for five to six weeks of jail term for Makesvaran together with a fine of $500 to $1,000 as he had repeatedly pestered the victim and also kept following her and exposing himself to her more than once.
He will be back to court for sentencing in March.
Image source: Google Maps