Tia Sin Kwang, 56, became obsessed with a 38-year-old woman who made small talk with him from time to time, thinking that she loved him, and trapped her inside a lift and molested her after stalking her.
He pleaded guilty to one count of molest, with one other count of stalking being taken into consideration during his sentencing.
He was sentenced on 28 January to 3.5 years in prison, and because he can’t be caned due to being above 50, he is serving an extra 3 months in prison in lieu of the caning.
The victim cannot be identified due to a court order.
What happened?
Tia worked with the victim in the same building as well as living in the same neighbourhood and they would make small talk when they saw each other in the neighbourhood or at the canteen of their office, but they were not friends.
In early 2021, Tia saw the victim out in the neighbourhood with her daughter and asked her if she wanted some tracing books for her daughter, to which the woman agreed and they then exchanged mobile numbers.
Tia met up with the victim on a few occasions to pass her the tracing books. On one of the occasions, he followed her in the lift to her floor under the guise of escorting her, and he found out which floor she lived on.
Tia started stalking the victim on 12 May 2021, sending her messages repeatedly asking her if she loved him, which she rejected.
The man also followed the victim while she was with her daughter under the block, as well as standing outside her home a few times.
On 6 August 2021, the victim had left her home to go to work and when she entered the lift, Tia followed suit and entered quickly.
Tia then placed his right hand on her right shoulder as she was pressing the lift buttons, and she then pushed his arm away. Undeterred, he placed his hand on the woman’s back.
He then cornered her in the lift as the woman tried to avoid him by facing the lift. Tia then molested her as she tried to prevent him from touching her by crouching but failed.
Followed her all the way to bus interchange
The lift then stopped and another person entered, to which Tia then stopped his actions. The victim then hurriedly left the lift on the first floor and boarded the bus, as Tia continued to follow her and sat beside her inside the bus, to which the woman then changed her seat.
The victim then alighted at Bukit Merah bus interchange to take another bus, as Tia then stood beside her as she waited and took out his mobile phone, showing the victim a photo of herself on it.
Tia was showing her a photo of her which she uploaded onto Facebook back in May 2021 and it was the 2nd time Tia had come up to the woman and showed her the photo. (The victim had set her profile to private after the first incident)
The woman then moved away from Tia as she felt disgusted but Tia continued to follow her.
He eventually gave up after she boarded the bus.