SINGAPORE: A male nurse molested his female understudy in a hospital, groping and holding her down as she tried to stop him.
On May 15, the 38-year-old man was sentenced to 10 months’ jail and two strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to one count of molest.
Another similar charge was taken into consideration for sentencing.
A gag order protecting the victim prevents the offender, the victim and the hospital from being identified.
The victim was 21 years old and had just started working at the hospital at the time, with the man assigned as her buddy to show her the ropes.
In the early hours of Jan 13, 2025, the victim, on a break from her night shift, had napped in a massage chair in one of the rooms.
She woke up at around 2.25am and the man entered the room. He closed the door behind him and asked her if she had eaten.
He stood next to the chair and suddenly slid his hand down her top to grope her chest beneath her uniform and bra.
She told him to stop, pushed his hand away and tried to get up from the chair.
But the man continued to molest her for about three minutes, holding her down with his hand.
The prosecution said that this was not a case of a fleeting grab or touch, but involved prolonged “squeezing, massaging and touching”.
He also tried to kiss her on her lips, but she moved, and his lips landed on her cheek instead.
The victim then gave her senior a hard push, causing him to stop and leave the room.
About five minutes later, she left the room and headed to the nursing station where she started to cry.
She later reported the incident to her superiors and the police.
The court was informed that the victim had been hesitant about reporting the incident as she had only recently started working at the hospital and was worried about what people around her would think.
This was also not the first time the man had molested her.
He had groped her chest in an earlier incident in November 2024.
The man’s lawyer said his client had immediately apologised to the victim after molesting her in the room.
He added that his client is a married man with a teenage daughter in the Philippines, was remorseful, and hoped to rebuild his life after serving his sentence.
For each count of molest, the man could have been jailed for up to three years and fined, on top of being caned. - The Straits Times/ANN
