Woman turns sleuth to nab bus-ride
molester
She trails him on bus, then car and finally
gets him arrested
By Ng Wan Ching
September 11, 2009
http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,213313,00.html
SHE woke up in her favourite seat on the top deck of the
double-decker bus to find a strange man's fingers doing a 'tip-toe'
walk across her right breast.
She watched in horror as the fingers reached the middle of her
breast, then stopped.
Shocked and still blurry from her hour-long nap in the early
morning, she sat upright and elbowed her molester, who was dressed
in army uniform.
Then she called her boyfriend who told her to take a photo of her
molester. As she did not have a camera on her, she tried to take a
photo of the man with her handphone. But he avoided her attempts by
shielding his face behind his bag.
Said the 28-year-old teacher: 'He shoved me away, but I still
managed to take a photo of him. But it was a bad one. I couldn't
see anything at all.'
Then she shouted at him : 'You try to be funny, is it?'
He ignored her and continued sitting next to her as if nothing had
happened.
Nobody helped
There were many people seated behind her, but she claimed that
nobody helped. Her boyfriend encouraged her to make a police
report.
During lunch break that day, on 12 Aug, she made a report at Bedok
Police Headquarters. The investigating officer told her that if she
saw the man again, she should tell the bus driver
immediately.
The next morning, she and her boyfriend went back to the Woodlands
Bus Interchange to see if they could spot the man again.
'I became very sensitive to people wearing army uniforms. I looked
at every one who was in an army uniform,' she said.
But they had no luck.
Then yesterday morning, she saw him in army uniform again at the
Woodlands Bus Interchange around 6.30am. Her boyfriend had just
dropped her off in his car.
She was determined to catch him. She kept an eye on him and noted
his name from the army uniform.
Then she called her boyfriend and urged him to turn around and
follow the bus, which he did.
Keeping in touch with her by phone, her boyfriend managed to catch
up with her bus, SBS number 168, which was travelling from
Woodlands to Tampines.
She said: 'The man alighted at the same bus stop along Old Tampines
Road opposite a dormitory as he did the last time. This time, I
alighted too and followed him across the road.'
The man, who was unaware that she was on the same bus as him, saw
her crossing the road.
'He kept staring at me, I think he found me familiar,' she
said.
To avoid making him too suspicious, she pretended to talk on her
handphone.
'I looked like I was happily talking and laughing on the phone. But
I was talking to no one,' she said.
Then she noticed that he was getting ready to board a bus.
'His bus was just coming up and I saw my boyfriend's car coming. So
I hopped into my boyfriend's car and we followed the bus. Luckily
my boyfriend was not working and had time to do this,' she
said.
They followed the SBS bus number 72 closely, so they could see
clearly those who had alighted at the various bus stops.
After a few bus stops, she spotted the man alighting from the
bus.
They followed him to an army camp in Paya Lebar.
'We approached the guards and explained why we were there,' she
said.
The guards called an officer.
Called police
While her boyfriend spoke to the officer, she called the police. As
she had taken note of the man's name, she could tell the camp
guards and officer who she was looking for.
The officer brought out the man and asked her if it was the same
man who had molested her.
'I answered yes, very confidently,' she said.
Then the police arrived and she gave her statement again.
After all the excitement, she went to work past 9am.
'I had called my principal earlier and she told me to go ahead and
do what I had to do,' she said.
Later in the day, the investigating officer called to tell her they
had arrested the man, she said.
She feels relieved and said: 'I want all the girls to know that
they should be brave and stand up for themselves and fight for
their rights.'
She said she hadn't followed police advice to tell the bus driver
because she didn't want to inconvenience others in the bus.
'From what I know, the bus will just drive straight to the police
station, which I didn't want,' she said.
Now her favourite bus seat is no longer the upper deck. She sits
downstairs and is aware of who sits next to her.
'I still doze off because it is so early in the morning. But if it
is a man sitting next to me, then maybe I won't sleep at all,' she
said.
Her boyfriend is pleased the man is in police custody.
She said: 'He told me he wanted to nab the guy himself.'
A police spokesman confirmed that two reports have been made and
they are investigating. <!-- / message -->
