Recalcitrant flasher jailed 3 months
A recalcitrant flasher was sentenced on Tuesday (Oct 24) to three months' jail for exposing his private parts to a 10-year-old girl while his own daughter was in the vicinity.
IT manager Tang Chee Leong, 44, who pleaded guilty to insulting the victim's modesty, has been in and out of jail since 2001 for offences including molestation and performing obscene acts in public.
The father of two young daughters was last sentenced to three weeks' jail in 2015 after exposing himself to a teenage girl, but reoffended about a year later.
Before handing out the sentence, District Judge Kenneth Yap said that Tang was a menace to the public and that he was lucky his current offence did not qualify him for corrective training.
Corrective training is a prison regime for repeat offenders, lasting five to 14 years without time off for good behaviour.
Urging Tang to seek treatment, the judge added: "There is clearly something wrong with you... It's perverted behaviour."
The 10-year-old girl had gone to a Toa Payoh Central restaurant with her mother and younger brother on Dec 2 last year when she had to use the restroom.
The restaurant's toilet is such that the male and female cubicles are situated beside each other, with a common area outside.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Chee Ee Ling said Tang was also having a meal with one of his daughters in the same eatery at the time.
At around 3.30pm, the victim was in a toilet cubicle by herself when she heard a few knocks on the door. She then heard Tang asking her for some toilet paper.
DPP Chee said: "The victim took a few pieces of toilet paper and passed them to the accused through the gap under the door. The accused then requested that the victim open the door to pass him the toilet paper and she complied."
The girl then saw Tang standing outside with his trousers around his knees and his private parts exposed.
She passed him the toilet paper and closed the door after he walked away.
Shaken by what she had seen, she quickly left the toilet and told her mother about her ordeal. The 40-year-old woman alerted the police.
The victim's brother checked the male cubicle and noted that it had not run out of toilet paper, the court heard.
DPP Chee asked the court to jail Tang for at least three months, stressing that the girl was severely affected after the incident.
The prosecutor added: "She did not dare go back to the restaurant or go to any public toilet by herself."
DPP Chee also said that according to the Institute of Mental Health, Tang has obsessive-compulsive disorder but this condition did not contribute to his current offence.
Defence lawyer S.S. Dhillon pleaded for two months' jail and said that his client had no explanation for his behaviour.
Tang will surrender himself at the State Courts on Nov 7 to begin his sentence.
For insulting the girl's modesty, he could have been jailed for up to a year and fined.
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