S'pore woman, 34, confronts man, 59, allegedly touching himself near Hong Lim Complex

A woman in Singapore was taking a smoke break near her office in Chinatown when she saw a man allegedly touching himself inappropriately in public.

She confronted the man, who apparently continued the act before walking away.

The woman spotted him again 30 minutes later and eventually called the police.

In response to Mothership's queries, the police confirmed that a 59-year-old man was arrested for committing an obscene act in a public place at Upper Cross Street.

The police said they received a call for assistance at about 4:40pm on Aug. 15.

Police investigations are ongoing.

Touching himself inappropriately

The woman, Cheryl Goh, posted on Facebook that she originally thought the man was "feeling hot and shaking his shirt to cool down".

She took a while to realise that the man was touching himself inappropriately.

"I shouted at him, and while I was shouting, he was still shaking. So I took out my phone to take a picture so I could make a police report," she wrote.

However, the man walked away while she was shouting after him.

Afterwards, she took a moment to calm down before deciding that she would go and look for him again.

Goh told Mothership she found the man 30 minutes later, walking across the bridge at Hong Lim Market.

"I really shouldn't have let him walk away the first time. I managed to catch him afterwards, and honestly, it really feels like luck that I happened to spot him again," she said.

In her Facebook post, Goh said she and a female colleague ran up to restrain the man and called the police.

Made comments about her body

While Goh was confronting him, the man allegedly apologised and said he was drunk.

However, he allegedly continued to make comments about her body and started staring at different parts of her body, Goh wrote.

He also scolded vulgarities at her, she added.

The police eventually arrived to arrest him.

Unnecessary comments online

Reflecting on her posts that went viral, Goh said she is grateful for the many supportive comments on both Facebook and Instagram.

However, there were unnecessary comments about her looks and body, Goh said.

"Those comments completely miss the point. What matters is that he was committing an indecent act, and it would still be wrong whether he did it beside an older woman, a young girl, or anyone else," she said.

"I’m just a normal 34-year-old mother who believes that this kind of behaviour shouldn’t be ignored. I did what I felt was right — caught him and handed him over to the police."