Former Gojek driver, 60, jailed 17 months for molesting unconscious passenger, 16, at Geylang

A former private-hire driver, Daniel Ong Soo Eng, 60, was sentenced to 17 months’ jail after molesting an unconscious 16-year-old passenger whom he had been ferrying home while she was heavily intoxicated.

At the time of the offence, the accused was married with two children.

Victim was asleep and unaware

The victim had booked a Gojek ride in the early hours of Feb. 26, 2022, after leaving a party drunk, according to court documents seen by Mothership.

She fell asleep during the journey and remained unconscious after Ong arrived at her destination around 3:03am.

The accused then parked along Lorong 19, Geylang. Because of her intoxication, the victim did not stir as the man called out to her and shook her from the driver’s seat.

Instead of ensuring she got home safely, Ong began photographing her while she was slumped in the rear seat, saying that he “looked at the victim and thought that she looked sexy”.

He then formed an intention to take photos of her with his handphone so that he could masturbate to it.

Over a period of around 19 minutes, he repeatedly adjusted her clothing, a white strapless tube dress, to expose her breasts and vaginal area before molesting her.

At about 3:30am, while recording a video, Ong used his fingers to sexually assault her.

The prosecution described the degree of sexual intrusion as extremely high, adding that the victim was especially vulnerable because she was heavily intoxicated and asleep.

It also noted that she was only 16 years old at the time.

At that time, the victim did not know what had been done to her by the accused. She did not consent to any of the force that Ong used on her person.

Trust was seriously abused

The prosecution said Ong had abused the trust placed in him as a transport provider, noting that he was someone who should have safely conveyed the victim home and that passengers of private hire cars, especially at night, must have certainty that they will be safely conveyed to their destinations without fear of being sexually assaulted.

This is all the more so when they are intoxicated.

However, the accused abused that trust by gratifying his lust for his passenger.

The High Court noted that “a strong message has to be sent out to those working in the public transport sector: behaviour taking advantage of more helpless commuters utilising these transport services will and shall not be tolerated by the courts."

Court documents also highlighted that the accused not only molested the victim while she was asleep, he also photographed her in various states of undress without her consent and took a video of himself molesting her, so that he could later watch it at leisure to satisfy his perverse desires by masturbating to it.

The prosecution emphasised his acts as being especially degrading.

Ong also took photographs which captured distinct features of the victim, such as part of the victim’s face and her tattoo.

Offence uncovered after unrelated police report

The offence only surfaced weeks later when Ong went to a police station on Apr. 7, 2022, to lodge a report over a traffic accident around Woodlands Avenue 12 that he was involved in.

In the course of lodging the report, the accused handed over his handphone to the police sergeant as he wanted to show some photos of the accident.

While looking through the media gallery on his phone, the police sergeant observed certain obscene media, including a video showing Ong molesting the victim.

Upon observing the video, the sergeant first assisted the accused to lodge the report about the accident before inviting Ong to be interviewed by police officers regarding the obscene media.

After the interview, Ong was arrested the same day, and his phone was seized.

Pleaded guilty

Ong pleaded guilty to one count of outrage of modesty, with two other charges involving voyeurism and recording obscene material taken into consideration during sentencing.

The prosecution said the case involved an opportunistic assault by a private-hire driver committed against his inebriated passenger, and it is deserving of a stiff sentence.

Defence lawyer Prakash Otharam asked for a lower sentence, saying Ong was remorseful and had suffered significant personal consequences since the offence.

He said, as reported by CNA:

“His marriage has fallen apart, as your honour is aware, he has separated from his wife and his daughter. He's lost his job and he's also lost his house."

The court ultimately imposed a sentence of 17 months’ jail, the top end of the prosecution’s proposed jail range.

Of the total sentence, two months were imposed in lieu of four strokes of the cane, as Ong cannot be caned because he is above 50 years old.

Top images via Mothership, Canva