Ex-cabby jailed for kissing passenger
A taxi driver took a couple back to their home but went too far - by kissing the woman on her cheek and her mouth as she escorted her drunken husband into their house.
A. Ashok Kumar, 54, left the 47-year-old American woman shocked and scared after following the couple to their front door, a court heard.
He was sentenced to two weeks' jail yesterday after he was found guilty of outraging the store manager's modesty outside her home around 11.30pm on June 15, 2016.
He has since lost his job.
The couple had attended an event at a bar in Circular Road that evening.
The woman testified that after paying and thanking Ashok Kumar, she supported her intoxicated husband but he fell into some bushes at their condominium.
As she picked him up, she suddenly realised Ashok Kumar had followed her and was standing with them.
She refused to let the cabby help or touch her husband because she knew he could be unpredictable when he was intoxicated.
When the lift arrived, Ashok Kumar followed the couple into it and again the woman asked him not to touch her husband.
After taking her husband into the unit, she was shocked to find Ashok Kumar in front of the door.
As she went to close it, he kissed her on the cheek. Shocked, she turned her head the other way but he kissed her again, this time on the mouth.
Ashok Kumar denied molesting the woman, claiming that the pair were drunk, and that it was the woman who brought her cheeks to his to thank him as he was leaving.
District Judge Luke Tan said Ashok Kumar took advantage of his status as a taxi driver.
Ashok Kumar will start his sentence on Jan 31. - ELENA CHONG
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