SINGAPORE: Three men were jailed and ordered to be
caned for molesting a girl between 2 and 6 am on 24 November
2007.
The three men are 29-year-old Gregory Goh Boon Hong,
who's an assistant manager of a restaurant; his colleague,
31-year-old Yue Waita, a management trainee; and restaurant
manager, 33-year-old Eric Wong Meng Cheong.
The trio were convicted on 15 October after a 20-day
trial.
The girl, then a 17-year-old student, had earlier testified that
she been drinking with them at the Sassy Bar at Boat Quay bar on 23
November, the night before the incident.
When the bar closed in the wee hours of the morning, they decided
to invite her over for more drinks at another place without telling
her its exact location.
She followed them to Wong's workplace, Japanese restaurant Dozo at
Valley Point Shopping Centre in the River Valley area.
The girl told the court she had felt nauseous after drinking three
glasses of sake in the eatery and went to a restroom as she wanted
to throw up.
She left the toilet soon afterwards and held onto a wall as she
felt giddy.
Goh carried her to a carpeted area and his two friends then came
forward to join them. They then molested her and only stopped after
she told them she was menstruating.
The girl left the restaurant in tears and called one of her friends
who drove her home.
She later made a police report.
Wong was jailed 15 months and given six strokes of the cane.
The other two were each jailed 10 months and given three strokes of
the cane.
All three intend to appeal against their conviction and were
offered a bail of S$15,000 each.
For outraging the girl's modesty, they could have been jailed up to
two years, and fined or caned.
-CNA/ac
