Public Prosecutor v Ran Weidong

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Christopher Goh Eng Chiang
• Judgment Date: 23 November 2021
• Neutral Citation: [2021] SGMC 85
• Court: Magistrates' Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: Magistrate’s Arrest Case No. 902209 of 2020, Magistrate’s Appeal No. 9165-2021-01
• Year: 2021
• Published date: 27 November 2021
• Hearing Date: 17 March 2021,25 January 2021,30 March 2021,26 January 2021,01 April 2021,23 June 2021,04 February 2021,13 July 2021,31 March 2021
• Plaintiff Counsel: Jeremy Bin (Attorney-General's Chambers)
• Defendant Counsel: Terence Tan and Jolyn Yeo (Genesis Law Corporation)
• Subject Matter: Criminal Law,Statutory Offence,Outrage of Modesty,Criminal Procedure and Sentencing,Sentencing
• Citation: [2021] SGMC 85

District Judge Christopher Goh Eng Chiang: Introduction

The accused, a 35-year-old Singapore Permanent Resident, claimed trial to one outrage of modesty (“OM”) charge under s 354(1) of the Penal Code (Cap 224) (“PC”). The accused, the owner and one of the masseurs at a massage shop, Kang Foot Wellness located at JCube Shopping Mall, was alleged to have outraged the modesty of the 24-year-old victim (“the Victim”), who was a customer at his massage establishment.

At the conclusion of the trial, I convicted the accused and sentenced him to 14 months’ imprisonment and three strokes of the cane. The accused, being dissatisfied his conviction and the sentence imposed, now appeals against it.

The Charge

The charge faced the accused was as follows

“ …. that you, on 3 May 2019 at about 10.05pm, at a massage establishment named “Kang Foot Wellness” located at 2 Jurong East Central 1, J Cube, #B1-04, Singapore, did use criminal force to …. [the Victim] …., intending to outrage her modesty, to wit, by using your fingers to touch the victim’s vulva area of her vagina, and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 354(1) of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.”

Case for the Prosecution

The main witnesses called by the Prosecution are as follows: The Victim (“PW2”); Kelvin Fern Yu Hua (“PW3”), a friend of the Victim; Shaun Paul Peh Yee Wei (“PW4”), a friend and was a colleague of the Victim when the OM incident occurred; and Charlene Lee Zhi Hui (“PW5”), a friend of the Victim and who had introduced her to Kang Foot Wellness.

Facts leading up to the OM incident ¹

On 3 May 2019, the Victim made a booking at Kang Foot Wellness (“the shop”) for a 40-minute foot massage for SGD$35.00. She wanted a foot massage because she had hurt her foot at Muay Thai. As her regular masseuse was unavailable, her friend, PW5, introduced the shop to her as an alternative. PW5 and another of the Victim’s friends, PW3, were aware that the Victim had scheduled a foot massage at the shop that evening.

The Victim arrived at the shop at about 2045 hrs and she met the accused in the shop. As she was wearing a pair of jeans, the accused passed her a pair of shorts to change into. She then washed her feet, before getting seated in a massage chair for the foot massage. At 2055 hrs, the Victim sent a Telegram text message, with a photo, to PW3, letting him know that she was at the shop.² There was no one else in the shop.

The accused then began massaging the Victim’s legs, beginning with the Victim’s left leg from the ankle area upwards, then the right leg. As the accused reached the region of the Victim’s thigh, he then massaged her inner thigh.³ She felt weird at the accused’s touches.

At about 2155 hrs, the Victim had finished her scheduled massage session. The accused then told the Victim that what was affecting the pain in her ankle was her waist. He was willing to extend the session as there were no longer any customers for the day.

The accused and the Victim then moved from the massage chair to the neighbouring massage bed area, which was separated by a curtain. The accused then drew the curtains encircling the massage bed.

The OM incident

Upon the request of the accused, the Victim proceeded to lie face down on the massage bed. The accused began the massage on the Victim’s left ankle and moved his hand upwards, with his fingers and hands making circular motions.

As the accused’s hands reached the Victim’s shorts, he rolled up the left hem of her shorts. She felt that her left buttocks were exposed. The accused hands then went into her shorts. She felt like his fingers were trying to get into her panty and the sides of her vagina⁴. She kept fidgeting and was feeling uncomfortable. Eventually, she said “enough” in mandarin (ie. “gou le”), indicating that the accused should stop whatever he was doing. The Victim was scared and conceded that she did not say “enough” in a stern voice.

The accused stopped massaging the left leg after the Victim said “enough”, and moved to the right leg, beginning with the right ankle. The victim was still lying on her stomach. Like the left leg, the accused started from the right ankle and worked his way up the Victim’s right leg with his hands and fingers moving in a circular motion. He then rolled up the right hem of the Victim’s shorts, also exposing her buttocks. At this point, both hems of the shorts were rolled up.

Once again, the Victim felt as though the accused was trying to get his fingers into her panty. She kept fidgeting, trying to move away her vagina away from his fingers. She was not successful, and she could feel the accused’s fingers get into her panty.⁵ He touched her at the region around her private parts for about a minute to a minute and a half ⁶. She kept saying “enough” and that “it’s not pain already” in mandarin⁷, meaning that her ankles were no longer painful, and she wanted him to stop. She was feeling really scared.

The accused then told her that, as the pain in her ankles was coming from her waist, he wanted to massage her waist. The accused then pulled down the top of the shorts. As the Victim as still lying on her stomach, this meant that the top half of her buttocks were exposed. He then proceeded to massage her waist.⁸ He did this only for a short while as she kept saying “enough”, and “that it’s not pain already”

At this time, the air-conditioning had already shut down and the Victim could tell that the accused was perspiring. He then asked the Victim to lie on her side and face him. He told the victim that he wanted to “crack her bones”, like cracking one’s knuckles. This was when she noticed that that the accused’s penis was erected. She was shocked and scared. It made her feel that he had touched her deliberately for his own pleasure.

After “cracking her bones”, the accused then asked the Victim to sit up. She sat near the edge of the massage bed with the accused behind her. His hands then went underneath her blouse to massage her shoulders. As he did so, she felt his hands coming lower and lower down the front of her body, although he definitely did not touch her chest area, meaning her breast⁹. She did not request for this massage and neither did the accused explain why he was doing it.

After the accused massaged the Victim’s shoulder area, the massage ended. The Victim changed back into her jeans and went to the counter to pay for the massage. As she was putting her shoes back on, she noticed that the accused’s pants were tight, and saw that the accused still had an erection. She then left he shop quickly. The Victim did not leave the massage halfway because she was scared. She was alone and did not know what the accused to do.¹⁰ In essence, she froze.

Victim’s reaction after the OM incident

Upon leaving the shop, she told PW3, PW4 and PW5 what happened.

Reaction viz PW3

PW3 is a good friend of the Victim. He would usually accompany the Victim when she goes for massages. However, he did not accompany her for the massage on 3 May 2019 as he was out with his friends.

It was at 2237 hrs that evening that the Victim first told PW3 about the incident at the shop through text messages.¹¹ She had felt awkward telling PW3 what had happened, that was why she used terms like “LOL” or “LMAO” (ie. “Laugh Out Loud” and “Laughing My Ass Off” respectively) to hide her awkwardness. Through her messages, she told PW3 that the accused had touched her butt and the sides of her vagina.¹²

Later that evening, just before midnight, PW3 called the Victim, telling her that he was coming home and that he would look for her. They then arranged to meet up for supper. During supper, the Victim described to PW3 what happened during the massage. It appeared to PW3 that the Victim was confused and unsure whether was done to her by the accused was wrong. However, the Victim was crying, frightened and mentioned that she felt “dirty”.¹³ They decided to clarify with her regular masseuse what would be the correct procedure for a leg massage before deciding on whether to make a police report.

Later that day, 4 May 2019, they went to the massage place at Jurong Mall that the Victim usually frequented. PW3 is unable to recall the exact conversation with the Victim’s regular female masseuse but he did recall that such massages should not have even gone above the knee level.

From the massage place in Jurong Mall, they went to the shop ie. Kang Wellness at JCube. PW3 proceeded to confront the accused while the Victim remained outside the shop. After confirming the identity of the accused, PW3 sought an explanation from him. The accused claimed that he may have touched the Victim’s vagina accidentally. PW3 remembered the accused explaining to him that he had an erection because he thought that the Victim was very pretty. However, he does not recall the accused saying that he had no ulterior motives against her. The accused then offered to apologize personally to the Victim.

Later that evening, PW3 accompanied the Victim to make a police report at Yew Tee Community Club.¹⁴ Since the incident, the Victim has been afraid of going to work and of strangers and crowds. Healthwise, since the incident, she has been often sick and have been on medical leave regularly.

Reaction viz PW4

PW4 is a friend and an ex-colleague of the Victim. At the time of the incident, they were paralegals in the same law firm. PW4’s best friend is also the Victim’s boyfriend.¹⁵ On 3 May 2019, the Victim told him that she would be going for a massage at JCube as her regular masseuse was unavailable.

On the evening of 3 May 2019, at about 2300 hrs, PW4 was having dinner with a friend at Changi Airport when he received a phone call from the Victim. PW4 recalled that the Victim told him that the masseur had touched her vagina and buttocks¹⁶. The massage was normal in the beginning but when her thigh was being massaged, the...