SINGAPORE: A serial paedophile, with convictions
dating back to 1986, was sentenced to six years in corrective
training for molesting a seven-year-old boy in the toilet of a
hawker centre.
Forty-five-year-old Seyad Sulaiman Maideen Pillai
pleaded guilty to outraging the modesty of the American boy at
Hougang Kovan Market.
Sulaiman was working as a cleaner at the
market.
On 1 February 2011, the boy was having dinner there with his family
when he left halfway for the toilet.
Sulaiman followed him into a toilet cubicle, locked the door and
stripped him.
He touched the boy's groin, hugged him and tried to kiss his neck
as well.
Sulaiman eventually allowed the boy to leave after washing the
boy's groin.
The incident came to light when the boy told his father, who called
the police.
In passing sentence on Tuesday, District Judge Ng Peng Hong noted
that Sulaiman was diagnosed with paedophilia and had a "moderate to
high risk of re-offending".
He found Sulaiman suitable for corrective training or preventive
detention.
This harsher prison regime sees recalcitrant offenders jailed
between five and 14 years, with no remission for good
behaviour.
Sulaiman was charged with 34 counts of sexual offences in 1999 and
was sentenced to five years of corrective training and six strokes
of the cane.
He faced several similar charges in 1986 and 1995.
- CNA/wk