Trio commended for thwarting alleged outrage of modesty offences in trains
Three members of the public received the Public Spiritedness Award for helping to thwart alleged cases of molestation and public nuisance in MRT trains, the police said on Wednesday.
One of the recipients was Mr Bryan Nicholas Chua, who was on a train on Jan 12 when a woman told him she had been molested by a man standing behind her.
Mr Chua detained the man and alerted the station staff when the train stopped at Khatib MRT station. The police arrested the man for outrage of modesty.
Another award recipient, Mr Lee Khim Woey, was on board a train on Jan 24 when he saw a man allegedly taking photos of a female commuter on his mobile phone. He immediately alerted the woman, and she confronted the man, who allegedly attempted to delete the content.
Mr Lee helped detain the man, who was subsequently arrested for public nuisance.
The third recipient, Ms Noorashikin Sheik Noordin, was on board a train on Feb 6 when she noticed a man allegedly peeking at a female commuter’s cleavage and touching her rear from behind.
Ms Noorashikin confronted the man, and together with the female commuter, detained him. The police subsequently arrested the man for outrage of modesty.
All three recipients were presented with the award by the Public Transport Security Command (TransCom) last Friday.
Another three MRT station managers also received the Community Partnership Awards on the same day for helping to stop alleged cases of voyeurism and theft.
On Dec 1, 2022, Mr Khairil Haziq Mohammad Ali, assistant station manager at Aljunied MRT station, saw a man meddling with the lock of a bicycle and quickly detained him before calling the police. The man was subsequently arrested for theft of bicycle.
On Jan 25, Ms Nurul’Ain Mahfud, who was the assistant station manager on duty at Tampines MRT station, was alerted to a case of voyeurism. She detained the man, who was found to be in possession of two upskirt photos. He was arrested for voyeurism.
On March 7, Mr Muhammad Farhan Abdul Sattar, who was on duty at Bugis MRT station, gave chase and helped detain a man who was loitering suspiciously outside the female toilet. The police arrested the man, who allegedly admitted to peeping at a victim in the toilet.
“We value the strong partnership between the police and public transport operators which is key to prevent, deter and detect crimes,” said Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Police Masagoes Idris Masagoes Hussain.
He also thanked the award recipients for helping to make the public land transport network a safer and more secure place to travel on.
“The police have zero tolerance towards sexual offenders, and we urge members of the public to be vigilant and report to the police immediately if they come across such incidents,” said Mr Masagoes Idris.
Separately, the Clementi Police Division also presented the Public Spiritedness Award to a member of the public for assisting in a case of voyeurism last Thursday.
The recipient was Mr Ronald Chia, an operationally ready police national serviceman.
He and his friend confronted a man who allegedly took an upskirt video of a woman on an escalator. His action led to the swift arrest of the man for voyeurism, said the police.
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