38 year old Malaysian, Low Teck Hua, who worked as a former masseur was given 9 months of jail term and three strokes of the cane for pleading guilty to one count of outrage of modesty.
He had took advantage of the female victim during a full body massage session by touching her privates at least twice.
Another similar charge was taken into consideration.
What happened
The female victim, aged 32 had went for a massage session with her colleague at Sante Wellness in Hougang back in October 2019 for a foot massage and full body massage session.
After both were done with their foot massage, they proceeded to their individual rooms for their full body massage where the victim stripped to her panties and lay down on the massage bed facing downwards and was covered by a blanket.
Low then came in to massage her and midway through got her to lie facing upwards.
He then used both of his hands to rub the victim’s chest, coming into full body contact with her over the chest area for one to two minutes.
He did not seek approval from the victim before doing so, and was not allowed in the first place to do so as well.
The victim was shocked by his actions and did not know how she should react but made a Police report the following day.
Court session
A heavier sentence of minimum 10 months jail term and caning was asked for by the prosecutor due to the fact where Low had took advantage of the victim in the capacity of a masseur which should have been trusted to be professional when carrying out his duties.
Both of them were also alone in the room and the victim was also vulnerable as she was not dressed at that time.
The way which Low touched her also showed that he had intruded into the privacy.
The second charge which was the fact where Low had touched her over her panties was also taken into consideration.
Low’s defence lawyer mitigated his case by arguing that the outrage of modesty was not pre planned and it spared the victim from coming to court to relieve the traumatic experience as he had also pleaded guilty and not put up a fight.
Penalties
The penalties for outrage of modesty are a jail term of up to two years, or fine, or caning or any combinations of the three punishments.
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