Public Prosecutor v Mohamed Noh Hafiz bin Osman

[1] The accused is a 17 year old male. Before his arrest, he was a Secondary 4 student in a school in Tampines. He pleaded guilty to the following ten charges:

In addition, he admitted having committed the following nineteen offences and consented to having them taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing:

2. In February and March 2003, the accused followed young girls between the ages of eight and twelve into lifts as they were heading home alone in public housing estates in the eastern region of Singapore. When they emerged from the lifts, he would attack them from behind, cover their mouths with his hand and pull them to the staircase landings. When one of them screamed in one case, he threatened to beat her up. There, he would molest them by inserting a finger into their vaginas and continuously pushing the finger in and pulling it out. This formed the substance of the aggravated outrage of modesty charges. For the two rape offences, he inserted his penis into the two young victims’ private parts but ejaculated in his underwear only after he had withdrawn. In respect of the fellatio charges, he pushed the three victims’ heads towards his exposed penis and forced them to suck it. In one instance, he ejaculated into the girl’s mouth. Immediately, she spat out his semen onto the floor at the staircase landing. The accused then took his water bottle, poured water on the seminal fluid and attempted to wash it away by brushing his shoe against it. A total of four young girls were involved in these sexual offences.

3. The robbery charge pertained to a handphone taken forcibly from another young girl’s pocket when he accosted her from behind and covered her mouth. Due to her struggle, they fell onto the floor and she screamed. When the accused heard the sound of a door of one of the flats opening, he got up and ran away.

4. Pursuant to police reports filed by the families of the victims, a Special Task Force comprising officers from the Serious Sexual Crimes Branch (‘SSCB’) of the Criminal Investigations Department and the Bedok Division was set up. On 29 March 2003, an officer from a Neighbourhood Police Centre in the Bedok Division saw a photo-fit picture of the suspect composed by the SSCB and recognised it to be the accused.

5. On 30 March 2003, the police officers arrived at the block in which the accused was living and saw him at the void deck. When they moved in to arrest him, he put up a violent struggle and had to be subdued. He was then brought to the Bedok Neighbourhood Police Centre.

6. The Prosecution noted that the accused had no previous conviction and had pleaded guilty but submitted that he should be given a deterrent sentence for the following reasons:

7. Various sentencing precedents were cited for my guidance.

8. The accused is only 17 years and 6 months old. He has two elder sisters. His parents separated when he was one year old, leaving his mother to fend for three young children. His mother had to work long hours in order to support the family and therefore could not give him the necessary emotional support.

9. He had several setbacks in life. The first was just two hours after his birth when his father unwittingly washed him under a tap causing him to turn blue and become motionless. Although he was revived sometime later, it was uncertain how that incident might have affected him. The second was when he was two or three years old and was being taken care of by a relative. He was injured in the chest and on the forehead as a result of neglect. The third incident happened when he was five years old and was knocked down by a pick-up while playing. He was hospitalised for about a week for observation.

10. The emotional scars began to show in 2001 and 2002 when the accused stole money from his mother over a period of time. When his mother could take it no longer, she reported him to the police. As a result, his room was searched by the police and some video compact discs were uncovered. These incidents formed the substance of one of the theft charges and the two charges under the Films Act. The accused felt betrayed by his mother and never really forgave her.

11. The accused could offer no explanation why he committed all the despicable acts. He had a girlfriend with whom he was having a sexual relationship at the material time. This was his first appearance in a court of law. He admitted the offences from the outset and co-operated fully with the police.

12. Counsel made an impassioned plea that the accused be sent for reformative training under s 13 Criminal Procedure Code by virtue of his age, his remorse and willingness to change for the better.

13. Before sentencing the accused, I made the following remarks: