Repeat offender will get 12 years’ preventive for molesting 10-year-old

SINGAPORE — A 61-year-old man was put behind bars once more on Monday (Jan 18) for molesting a 10-year-old woman, lower than a yr after he was launched from jail for molesting different minors. Salim Abdul Rahman was sentenced to 12 years’ preventive detention, a extreme punishment imposed solely when the courtroom is glad recalcitrant offender ought to be locked away to guard the general public. That is Salim’s eighth jail sentence. Since 1990, he has been variously jailed and caned for offences associated to theft, theft and drug use.Salim dedicated his newest crime on Oct 1 final yr when he noticed the Main four pupil on her method residence from college within the afternoon.

He labored as a cleaner at a shopping center on the time.Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Colin Ng mentioned that after alighting from a bus close to Hougang, Salim approached the woman as he had “evil ideas of doing one thing unhealthy”.The woman can’t be named due to a courtroom order to guard her id.He requested the woman the place she lived and which college she attended, however she ignored him as a result of he was a stranger. Salim endured and handed her S$1.50, which she took as a result of she feared he would get indignant.He then led her to his residence.

After they reached the staircase touchdown on the bottom ground of his public housing block, the woman refused to observe him up.Placing his hand over her shoulders, he then touched her chest. Frightened, the woman dashed residence and cried to her grandmother, who accompanied her to the police station to make a report.The police arrested Salim that night and he has been held in remand since.An evaluation by the Institute of Psychological Well being didn’t discover him to be affected by a psychiatric dysfunction or sickness.SOUGHT TO DOWNPLAY CRIMEDPP Ng mentioned that Salim dedicated the crime 10 months after his launch from 10 years’ preventive detention for molesting a minor.

He requested for a better sentence, provided that the earlier jail time period did nothing to discourage Salim from reoffending.Arguing that Salim have to be taken out of the group, DPP Ng mentioned: “He had focused the younger sufferer by using a strikingly related modus operandi because the offences that he had dedicated in 2009 (when he was sentenced to 10 years’ preventive detention).”Salim, who was not represented by a lawyer, pleaded for leniency.“Can it’s lower than 10 years? I want to change for the higher and achieve employment,” he mentioned in Malay via an interpreter. DPP Ng mentioned that in police interviews, Salim sought to downplay his criminality by saying that there have been others in jail who dedicated “very severe offences”, similar to rape, and that he had no intention to hold out these acts.

District Decide Victor Yeo agreed that Salim ought to be faraway from the group to guard the general public.“What can be of concern is that the accused had displayed paedophilic sexual curiosity and sought to trivialise his offending behaviour,” he mentioned.  Salim’s sentence was backdated to Oct three final yr.The utmost punishment for molesting a minor beneath 14 years outdated is 5 years’ jail, caning and a nice. Preventive detention, nonetheless, is a separate regime from common sentencing, and might vary from seven to 20 years. Offenders should serve their sentences in jail, with no discount for good behaviour.