Woman allegedly linked to case involving pre-schooler's sexual assault given stern warning
A man accused of molesting the girl and all four women cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the child's identity.
SINGAPORE – A woman, allegedly linked to a case involving the purported sexual assault of a two-year-old female pre-schooler in 2023, has been given a stern warning and was granted a discharge amounting to an acquittal on July 16.
This means, the 66-year-old woman cannot be charged again over the same offence.
She was one of four women who were hauled to court in February and was
charged with one count of intentionally omitting information in relation to an alleged outrage of modesty on the child at a pre-school.
All four, who were then management staff of the pre-school, have since been removed from their postings.
Without revealing details on July 28, the Attorney-General's Chambers told The Straits Times: 'After investigations and with careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of the matter, the prosecution directed that a stern warning be administered to the accused.
'Following the administration of the stern warning, the prosecution applied for (the) discharge.'
District Judge Kok Shu-En then granted it during a pre-trial conference on July 16.
Top stories
Swipe. Select. Stay informed.
Singapore Tanjong Katong sinkhole backfilled; road to be repaved after LTA tests
Singapore MRT platform screen doors at 15 underground stations to undergo renewal
Singapore 'Medium risk' of severe haze as higher agricultural prices drive deforestation: S'pore researchers
Singapore Jail for former pre-school teacher who tripped toddler repeatedly, causing child to bleed from nose
Singapore Police statements by doctor in fake vaccine case involving Iris Koh allowed in court: Judge
Singapore Authorities say access to Changi intertidal areas unaffected by reclamation, in response to petition
Singapore SMRT reports unauthorised post on its X account, says investigation under way
Singapore No change to SIA flights between S'pore and Cambodia, S'pore and Thailand, amid border dispute
A man accused of molesting the girl and all four women cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the child's identity.
The cases involving the three remaining women and the man are still pending.
On Dec 6, 2023, the man, then 59,
was charged with one count of using criminal force on a person below 14 years old with intent to outrage modesty .
According to court documents, the Malaysian man, who is also a Singapore permanent resident, allegedly used criminal force on the toddler by placing his right hand inside her diaper to molest her in November that year.
The women were later charged in court. The trio, whose cases are still pending, were 48, 58 and 61 years old when they were charged in February.
They were each given one charge of intentionally omitting information on the alleged sexual assault.
The 48-year-old and 58-year-old women were also charged with obstruction of justice as they allegedly reformatted the pre-school's closed-circuit television system on Nov 26, 2023, which contained a clip of the alleged offence.
The two of them were also given a third charge of obstruction of justice, allegedly committed between Nov 16 and 17 in 2023.
The 48-year-old woman is said to have deleted a video clip of the alleged sexual assault in her WhatsApp chat with the 58-year-old woman, who was in Vietnam at the time.
The 61-year-old woman was given a second charge of engaging in a conspiracy for the obstruction of justice.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Explainer-How many Palestinians has Israel's Gaza offensive killed?
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Palestinian health authorities say Israel's ground and air campaign against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 60,000 people, with nearly a third of the dead under the age of 18. After a two-month ceasefire earlier this year, Israel resumed an all-out air and ground campaign against Hamas in March. Palestinian health officials say more than 8,500 have been killed since then. The war began on Oct. 7, 2023 when Hamas militants stormed across the border into Israeli communities. Israel says the militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 people into captivity in Gaza. A new update released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health on Tuesday put the number of those killed in Gaza during the war at 60,034 people, ranging from a newborn baby to a 110-year-old. Of those, 18,592 or 30.8% were under 18. The official Palestinian Health Ministry death toll dwarfs those killed in previous bouts of fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza since 2005, according to data from Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem. An international monitoring group warned on Tuesday a worst-case scenario of famine is now unfolding in Gaza and immediate action is needed to avoid widespread death. This explainer examines how the Palestinian toll is calculated, how reliable it is, the breakdown of civilians and fighters killed and what each side says. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Business No clarity yet on baseline or pharmaceutical tariffs with US: DPM Gan Singapore Grace Fu apologises for Tanjong Katong sinkhole, says road may stay closed for a few more days Singapore Terrorism threat in Singapore remains high, driven by events like Israeli-Palestinian conflict: ISD Singapore Liquidators score victory to recoup over $900 million from alleged scammer Ng Yu Zhi's associates Singapore Man on trial for raping woman who hired him to repair lights in her flat Sport IOC president Kirsty Coventry a 'huge supporter' of Singapore Singapore Child and firefighter among 7 taken to hospital after fire breaks out in Toa Payoh flat Singapore S'pore can and must meaningfully apply tech like AI in a way that creates jobs for locals: PM Wong HOW DO GAZA HEALTH AUTHORITIES CALCULATE THE DEATH TOLL? In the first months of the war, death tolls were calculated simply by counting bodies that arrived in hospitals and data included names and identity numbers for most of those killed. In May 2024, the ministry included unidentified bodies, which accounted for nearly a third of the overall toll. However, since October 2024, it has only included identified bodies. A Reuters examination in March of an earlier Gaza Health Ministry list of those killed showed that more than 1,200 families were completely wiped out, including one family of 14 people. IS THE GAZA DEATH TOLL COMPREHENSIVE? The numbers do not necessarily reflect all victims, as the Palestinian Health Ministry estimates several thousand bodies are under rubble. Official Palestinian tallies of direct deaths in the Gaza war likely undercounted the number of casualties by around 40% in the first nine months of the war as Gaza's healthcare infrastructure unravelled, according to a peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet journal in January. The U.N. human rights office also says the Palestinian authorities' figure is probably an undercount. The deaths the U.N. has verified up to March this year show that nearly 70% were women and children. HOW CREDIBLE IS THE GAZA DEATH TOLL? Pre-war Gaza had robust population statistics and better health information systems than in most Middle East countries, public health experts told Reuters. The U.N. often cites the ministry's death figures and the World Health Organization has voiced full confidence in them. DOES HAMAS CONTROL THE FIGURES? While Hamas has run Gaza since 2007, the enclave's Health Ministry also answers to the overall Palestinian Authority ministry in Ramallah in the West Bank. Gaza's Hamas-run government has paid the salaries of all those hired in public departments since 2007, including in the Health Ministry. The Palestinian Authority pays the salaries of those hired before then. WHAT DOES ISRAEL SAY? Israeli officials have said previously that the death toll figures are suspect because of Hamas' control over government in Gaza and are manipulated. The government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Palestinian health authorities' toll passing 60,000. The Israeli military says 454 of its soldiers were killed in combat, and 2,840 others wounded since its Gaza ground operation began on Oct. 27, 2023. The Israeli military also says it goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties. It says Hamas uses Gaza's civilians as human shields by operating within densely populated areas, humanitarian zones, schools and hospitals, which Hamas denies. HOW MANY OF THE DEAD ARE FIGHTERS? The Palestinian Health Ministry figures do not differentiate between civilians and Hamas combatants, who do not wear formal uniform or carry separate identification. The Israeli military said in January 2025 it had killed nearly 20,000 Hamas fighters. It has not provided an update since. Such estimates are reached through a combination of counting bodies on the battlefield, intercepts of Hamas communications and intelligence assessments of personnel in targets that were destroyed. Hamas has said Israeli estimates of its losses are exaggerated, without saying how many of its fighters have been killed. REUTERS
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Crete protesters try to block arrival of Israeli tourists
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox The protesters at the port of Agios Nikolaos waved banners saying 'Stop the genocide' as the Crown Iris approached. ATHENS - Greek police used tear gas and made arrests as some 300 people tried to block an Israeli cruise ship on the island of Crete, the latest in a series of protests targeting the vessel. The protesters at the port of Agios Nikolaos waved banners saying 'Stop the genocide' as the Crown Iris approached, according to images on the public broadcaster ERT. The images also showed police using tear gas to disperse the crowd, allowing several hundred passengers to board buses on the island. 'I had a sore throat from the tear gas and had to leave the demonstration,' Elena Toutoudaki, a teacher in her fifties, told AFP. Three people were arrested before being released, according to a local police source. Protesters have targeted the Crown Iris, with around 600 mostly Israelis on board, in other Greek islands. On July 28, protesters scuffled with police who made eight arrests as it docked in Rhodes, media reports said, while last week 200 people protested in Syros as the ship approached. Police had insisted passengers could disembark on Syros, but the Times of Israel reported that the ship's owners decided to skip the island. Greek Minister of Citizen Protection Mihalis Chryssohoidis subsequently said anyone who 'prevents a citizen of a third country from visiting our country will be prosecuted under the anti-racism law.' Numerous demonstrations against the war in Gaza have taken place in Athens and other cities across Greece. AFP
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Lebanon sentences six Hezbollah members over 2022 killing of Irish peacekeeper
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox BEIRUT - Lebanon's military tribunal has sentenced six people over the 2022 killing of an Irish peacekeeper in southern Lebanon, two judicial sources told Reuters on Tuesday, and a Lebanese security source said all six were members of Hezbollah. Hezbollah's media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The judicial sources said one man was sentenced in absentia to death, another was sentenced to three months in prison and four others were ordered to pay fines ranging from about $1,100 to $2,200. A seventh man was acquitted. The judicial sources named the man sentenced in absentia as Mohammad Ayyad. The security source said Ayyad had been briefly detained in connection with the case then released. He could not be reached for comment. Private Sean Rooney, a 23-year-old peacekeeper with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), was killed on Dec. 15, 2022 when the UNIFIL vehicle he was in was fired on in southern Lebanon. It was the first fatal attack on U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon since 2015. In January 2023, the Lebanese military tribunal charged seven people over the attack. In June of that year, a court document identified some of them as members of Hezbollah, the armed group that controlled the area of the south at the time the attack took place. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Business No clarity yet on baseline or pharmaceutical tariffs with US: DPM Gan Singapore Grace Fu apologises for Tanjong Katong sinkhole, says road may stay closed for a few more days Singapore Terrorism threat in Singapore remains high, driven by events like Israeli-Palestinian conflict: ISD Singapore Liquidators score victory to recoup over $900 million from alleged scammer Ng Yu Zhi's associates Singapore Man on trial for raping woman who hired him to repair lights in her flat Sport IOC president Kirsty Coventry a 'huge supporter' of Singapore Singapore Child and firefighter among 7 taken to hospital after fire breaks out in Toa Payoh flat Singapore S'pore can and must meaningfully apply tech like AI in a way that creates jobs for locals: PM Wong The charges against the seven men ranged from murder to damaging a vehicle. In a written statement on Tuesday, UNIFIL welcomed the conclusion of the trial process and Lebanon's "commitment to bring the perpetrators to justice." REUTERS
