Construction worker, 41, in S'pore jailed 13 months for breaking into woman's condo unit & molesting her

A construction worker who repeatedly broke into a woman’s condominium unit to watch her and touch her while she was asleep was jailed for 13 months on Oct. 8.

Indian national Thirupathi Mohandas, 41, pleaded guilty to two counts of voyeurism and one count of outrage of modesty, with another four charges, including two counts of housebreaking, taken into consideration.

Details of the case

According to court documents seen by Mothership, Mohandas, an Indian national who worked as a construction worker and lorry driver, first saw the 35-year-old American woman on Apr. 29.

At around 10:30pm, he passed by her unit and saw her naked through a window.

According to the court documents, he found her attractive and "resolved" to return.

At about 11:30pm on the following day, he parked his lorry along a road near the condominium.

He walked there and saw the victim, who was naked inside.

Mohandas then went to buy a drink from a vending machine before returning to the unit again.

Upon seeing that the victim was still naked, he decided to enter the unit to see her.

Subsequently, on May 1 at around 1:16am, after loitering outside the unit for about an hour, he climbed over a ledge onto the balcony after ascertaining that there were no passers-by or traffic around him.

From the balcony, Mohandas watched the victim sleeping with her breasts exposed for about 30 to 40 minutes.

Eventually, when he saw the American woman turn her body such that her back faced the balcony, he pulled open the sliding door on the balcony, which led to her living room and entered it.

He then made his way into her bedroom, where he touched the victim’s toes twice.

The second time he did so, the victim kicked her blanket at him and sat up.

She then saw Mohandas crouching at the bottom of her bed.

Shocked, the woman cursed at the accused, who then ran out of the bedroom and fled from the scene at around 2:25am by climbing down the same ledge he had used to enter initially.

Feeling “scared and disgusted”, the victim immediately sought help from a security guard, who called the police.

Balcony

Despite the close call, Mohandas returned sometime before midnight on May 2.

He loitered outside the unit for about an hour before climbing the ledge onto the balcony at 1:33am.

Mohandas then proceeded to stand on the balcony for three hours, looking at the victim through her bedroom window while she was dressed in only a short top and underwear.

During this time, the accused committed a sex act while looking at her.

As he did so, the victim, who was awake, heard a “thump” sound coming from the balcony.

She then looked through the bedroom window and saw a silhouette of Mohandas standing on the balcony.

This alarmed her, and she proceeded to alert the security guards at her condominium guardhouse about this after ascertaining that the silhouette had moved out of view.

Police officers arrested Mohandas before midnight on May 4, after spotting him loitering near the area outside the condominium unit.

He admitted he had intended to see the woman again.

The sentencing

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Ernest Chua sought a sentence of 12 to 18 months’ jail, describing the conduct as “highly invasive” and “indecent.”

He said the offences showed a high degree of premeditation and that they might have gone on unabated without police intervention.

He added that while there was no contact made with her private parts, the impact of the molestation of the victim’s toes was still “substantial”.

“It was still shocking as seen from her reaction and subsequent feelings of fear and disgust. The accused’s actions were a frightening intrusion to her.”

Mohandas’ lawyer, Ang Boon Yaw, said his client was deeply ashamed, had cooperated with the authorities fully and pleaded guilty early, according to The Straits Times.

In sentencing, District Judge Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz described Mohandas’ behaviour as a sustained campaign of harassment over three days, reflecting “recalcitrant brazenness and audaciousness” and that he was “effectively stalking her”.

She emphasised that the victim was entitled to feel safe in her own home, as reported by Channel News Asia.

The recent statistics by SPF have shown that molestation and voyeurism are among the most common physical crimes in Singapore, particularly in residential areas, and DPP Chua has noted a “pressing public interest” in deterring molestation and voyeurism offences.

Top images via Unsplash, Mothership