Facebook user S Ai Leen has took to Facebook to voice her frustration after he man continues to do indecent acts right outside of her own home which led to 11 police reports.
Here was what was stated in her Facebook.
“I am forced to write this today as I want to bring awareness of safety and security in Singapore. Appreciate if everyone can spare a few minutes to read and share this:
It has been about the 11th Police report filed, including a Magistrate’s Complaint since Dec 2017, regarding repeated cases of harassment but nothing effective has been done so far to ensure the safety of my family and I for the past three years.
A stranger (man in 50s/60s), who is unknown to us, has been harassing us since Dec 2017. During Dec 2017, he would press our doorbell several times (even after midnight), slot in numerous letters under our door and sleep right outside of our doorstep. We had made several police calls every night and the police will simply chase him away. Moments later, he would resurface again, and it would be a repetitive cycle where he will appear more than 2 times a day, at times even more than 5. We were told by the police that these acts of harassment are non-arrestable and we have to go to the state court to apply for a magistrate’s complaint to get an IO (Investigation Officer) which my family and I have duly done so. CCTV was also set up at our own expense of SGD500. Only on the day when the harraser stole a pair of shoes, committed obscene acts (pulling down his pants and flashing, masturbating in front of the camera, etc), urinated in our potted plants, was he arrested.
He was later convicted and punished with 7 weeks and 5 days imprisonment and some fines. Also, we were told by the police that he was checked into IMH. No updates after that.
Fast forward to Feb to March 2018, we received letters from the harasser in our mailbox with the letters having the Changi Prison’s Letterhead. The harasser was still able to continue his harassment towards us behind jail doors. Did the police not do their due diligence in checking the letters before they got sent out? Were no checks done on why he was admitted to jail in the first place? To me, this was a huge negligence by the Police. We contacted the Police immediately and was informed that the prison officer will update us. No updates were provided.
On Oct 2018, another letter was placed at our unit. As the Police mentioned these are non-arrestable cases, my family and I went to the state court to apply for a Protection from Harassment Act (POHA) under section 12(1), only to be rejected as we do not have the harasser’s personal particulars. Since he is a stranger to us and the Police refused to release his information due to confidentiality, we failed to get the Protection Order. At this juncture, despite all our efforts to seek different avenues of help, we are once again stuck. Later, the IO assured that the harasser was sent back to IMH and would not harass us again. During this time, we sought help from all MPs as well, but to no avail.
Subsequently on May 2019, the harasser left letters at our unit again. We reported to the latest IO that was assigned to us, but he mentioned that we would have to get a new IO again as the previous case had closed. The IO lodged another report for us and investigations restarted.
>4 different IOs have been re-assigned to us in the span of 3 years. This has been extremely inefficient as everytime a new IO is assigned to us, we would have to explain the entire situation from 2017 till present date. It seems to me that a proper handover has not been done by the Police and it has caused great frustration to me and my family when the IOs seem clueless on the severity of the situation.
On Oct 2019, the harasser left letters at our unit again. We did not contact the Police anymore as nothing can be done from previous incidents. On Jan 2020, the harasser left a notebook. All footages were caught on our CCTV. Again, we did not alert the Police as we have given up on them.
On 5 July 2020, the harasser came back lying outside our doorstep yet again and committed an obscene act. Police were called in on 3 different occasions and apparently the harasser was let off yet again. On 6 July 2020, the doorbell rang at past midnight and we checked the CCTV, only to realise that the harasser is back. We have alerted the Police and investigations are ongoing.
To this date, approximately >20 harassment letters, >15 doorbell rings , >2 counts of obscene acts, 1 count of stealing, >15 police calls made, >11 police reports lodged, >4 IOs assigned , 6 emails to AMK GRC MPs. Is this not enough to convict the harasser to stop him from coming again?
These acts of intentional harassment and stalking since 2017 caused immense distress and affected our family’s mental health. Being a family of predominantly females, it has caused us our freedom to enter and exit our residence fearing his presence and what he may do to us.
We are totally helpless and frustrated. Till this date the below actions were done by us:
1. Going to the Police seems to be ineffective as according to the Police, they aren’t able to do anything as harassment in Singapore is non-arrestable.
2. Applying for a Protection Order is not feasible, as the Police refused to provide details of the harasser.
3. Reaching out to our MPs was futile as they constantly referred us to the Police, noting that they have processes to follow through and that there was nothing they could do on their part.
4. Despite having numerous CCTV footages, evidence of constant harassment, they are still unable to prevent the harasser from stepping into our vicinity.
This is totally unacceptable. It seems to me that this whole situation is implying that staying in a HDB is not safe and if such a situation happens, we just have to suck it up and deal with it on our own, unlike others who can afford their own security in a condominium. With up to 80% of Singapore’s population living in HDB flats, are we all expected to live with such dangerous circumstances?
We hope to bring this issue to attention firstly to raise awareness on safety and security in Singapore. Secondly, we don’t intend to publicise the harasser but just so that finally someone can advise us on how to stop this from happening further, before something really serious happens to us. We have reached out to every single known channel of help but to no avail. Due to the unpredictability of his actions, we never know when he might strike next and when violence would be involved.
At this moment, the harasser is still at large as the Police have not updated us.
IMMEDIATE ATTENTION PLEASE Singapore Police Force Institude Of Mental Health(IMH)
Below 40 seconds video is not reflective of the hours of harassment over the past 3 years. It is just a glimpse of what the harasser has been doing to disturb my family.
*To Clarify*
We are the first owners (>30 years here), no relation to the harasser, had confronted him before that the person he is looking for is not here.”