http://www.corpun.com/sgj00806.htm
[SIZE=-6]Corpun file 20305[/SIZE]
Straits Times, Singapore, 13 June 2008
Preventive detention for molester who sniffed armpits
By Elena Chong
MOHAMMED Ismail Ariffin had a strange fixation.
Whenever he saw a woman, he would want to touch or even smell her.
His particular fetish: smelling their armpits.
Over 15 months, he molested 23 women - from girls as young as nine to women in their 50s.
After reading a report that Mohammed Ismail was likely to re-offend, Community Court Judge James Leong yesterday sentenced him to
14 years of preventive detention - a jail term for hardcore prisoners with no chance of parole.
Mohammed Ismail, who is mildly
retarded, will also be
caned 18 times.
Preventive detention, for which a judge can impose jail terms of up to 20 years, is meant to keep repeat offenders in jail so that they do not commit more crimes.
The 36-year-old stalked his victims and followed them into lifts. He would strike inside the lifts, at staircase landings or even at their homes.
In a few cases, he restrained them during the molestation.
According to Mohammed Ismail's corrective training and preventive detention report, he belonged to a group with more than 62 per cent chance of committing crimes again within two years of his release from prison.
Apart from his tendency to
sniff his victims' armpits, Mohammed Ismail also
touched a 13-year-old's breasts,
placed his hand up her skirt and exposed himself to a 53-year-old cleaner.
Following a report by a housewife that a man had smelt her armpit on Jan 3, the police took a semen swab at the scene which led them to Mohammed Ismail.
His pro bono lawyer Noor Mohamed Marican said his client, whose behaviour was abnormal, was suffering from the adverse effect of taking Romilar pills - used mostly to suppress coughs - when he committed the offences.
Pleading for leniency, the lawyer urged the judge not to impose a long sentence but to send Mohammed Ismail for a rehabilitative programme and medical treatment instead.
Mohammed Ismail has previous convictions since 1991 for drug and sexual-related offences. In 1996, he was given six years and six strokes for aggravated molestation.
Judge Leong said he found 'precious little' in Mohammed Ismail's favour, except for the fact that he pleaded guilty.
'The facts of the case speak for themselves. I think the accused's antecedents also speak for themselves,' he said. He agreed with the prosecution that this was an appropriate case for preventive detention.
Copyright © 2007 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.
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Note by C.F: On appeal, the jail sentence was maintained but the caning was reduced from 18 strokes to 12. ("Armpit-sniffing molester's jail term upheld - he has no disorder".
Straits Times, 23 January 2009.) [/FONT]</DIR>
