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July 9, 2009
Man cleared of molesting boy
By Elena Chong, Court Correspondent
<a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20090709/sg-molest.jpg"><img src="http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20090709/sg-molest.jpg"></a>
Mr Low, represented by Mr N. Kanagavijayan, was relieved and happy that his name had been cleared. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
A MAN was cleared of two charges of molesting a nine-year-old boy in a public toilet at Woodlands on Thursday after a trial.
Mr Low Bak Leng, 57, then a schoolbus driver, was acquitted of stroking the boy's private parts twice at the second floor toilet of Woodlands Mart at Block 768 Woodlands Avenue 6 on Jan 4 last year.
In acquitting him after a six-day trial, District Judge Jeffrey Sim said he did not think it was safe to accept the child's evidence at face value, in the absence of independent corroborative evidence.
The boy, whose evidence was given behind closed doors, had gone to Woodlands Mart with his mother for her medical appointment.
The mother raised an alarm that her son was molested after he told her that 'uncle'' had taught him how to urinate.
Judge Sim felt that Mr Low's conduct after his confrontation with the mother did not necessarily point to guilt.
'If it was true that he was falsely accused by the mother, then it is understandable why he would want to avoid her and stay as far away from her as possible,'' he said.
The central issue, he said, was whether he found the child's evidence to be unusually convincing. He concluded that he was unable to make such a finding having weighed the evidence and circumstances of the case.
Also, the mother's evidence that the child had waved and said goodbye to the accused and thanked him did not sit very well with the child's evidence that he had just been molested twice in the toilet.
Mr Low, represented by Mr N. Kanagavijayan, was relieved and happy that his name had been cleared.
The grassroots leader of Yio Chu Kang Community Club for 25 years said the case had caused a lot of trauma for his family, who had been pillar of support over the last 11/2 years.
His wife, Madam Toh Cheng Cheng, 52, a dessert shop assistant, said he was a very good husband and never took a day off work, slogging 16 hours a day to deliver newspapers part-time and ferry young children to and from school and childcare centres.
July 9, 2009
Man cleared of molesting boy
By Elena Chong, Court Correspondent
<a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20090709/sg-molest.jpg"><img src="http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20090709/sg-molest.jpg"></a>
Mr Low, represented by Mr N. Kanagavijayan, was relieved and happy that his name had been cleared. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
A MAN was cleared of two charges of molesting a nine-year-old boy in a public toilet at Woodlands on Thursday after a trial.
Mr Low Bak Leng, 57, then a schoolbus driver, was acquitted of stroking the boy's private parts twice at the second floor toilet of Woodlands Mart at Block 768 Woodlands Avenue 6 on Jan 4 last year.
In acquitting him after a six-day trial, District Judge Jeffrey Sim said he did not think it was safe to accept the child's evidence at face value, in the absence of independent corroborative evidence.
The boy, whose evidence was given behind closed doors, had gone to Woodlands Mart with his mother for her medical appointment.
The mother raised an alarm that her son was molested after he told her that 'uncle'' had taught him how to urinate.
Judge Sim felt that Mr Low's conduct after his confrontation with the mother did not necessarily point to guilt.
'If it was true that he was falsely accused by the mother, then it is understandable why he would want to avoid her and stay as far away from her as possible,'' he said.
The central issue, he said, was whether he found the child's evidence to be unusually convincing. He concluded that he was unable to make such a finding having weighed the evidence and circumstances of the case.
Also, the mother's evidence that the child had waved and said goodbye to the accused and thanked him did not sit very well with the child's evidence that he had just been molested twice in the toilet.
Mr Low, represented by Mr N. Kanagavijayan, was relieved and happy that his name had been cleared.
The grassroots leader of Yio Chu Kang Community Club for 25 years said the case had caused a lot of trauma for his family, who had been pillar of support over the last 11/2 years.
His wife, Madam Toh Cheng Cheng, 52, a dessert shop assistant, said he was a very good husband and never took a day off work, slogging 16 hours a day to deliver newspapers part-time and ferry young children to and from school and childcare centres.
