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A WAITER followed a teenager into a lift and molested her when she was about to get out at her floor.
Her screams were heard by her younger sister and mother. They rushed out of their flat and were assaulted by him at the lift landing.
Yesterday, Hamzah Hambali, 26, was jailed for 39 months and ordered to be given six strokes of the cane for causing wrongful restraint while molesting the 17-year-old, and causing hurt to her sister and mother on Jan 23.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Yang Ziliang said the victim was on her way home at about 11pm when Hamzah, who did not live in her block, walked past her in the lift lobby.
He followed her into the lift and apologised after bumping into her arm.
When the lift door opened and she was about to exit, he pulled her towards him and kissed her.
She managed to break free but was pinned on the floor of the lift by Hamzah, said DPP Yang.
She shouted and screamed loudly.
He covered her mouth and continued molesting her.
When the victim’s sister and mother rushed to the lift landing, they saw her lying on the floor with her legs inside the lift.
The mother pulled her up and asked Hamzah what he had done.
He did not reply but rushed out and gave her two slaps.
He pushed past the 42-year-old woman and punched her 16-year-old daughter twice on the jaw before fleeing down a staircase.
The victim, who was crouching in a corner crying, had a bruise on her right elbow.
Hamzah’s lawyer said his client had a troubled past and grew up without the support of a good family.
His mother had left him and his father when he was young.
District Judge Eddy Tham said the facts were very aggravating because Hamzah caused great harm and pain to the victim as well as hurt to her family members.
He noted that Hamzah had not learnt from previous convictions and punishments, which included jail and caning.
The judge told him to mend his ways as he was young, and turn over a new leaf.
He added that if Hamzah were convicted again, he was a likely candidate for corrective training and preventive detention.
There is no one-third remission for good behaviour for the two regimes, which can go up to 20 years for preventive detention and up to 14 years for corrective training.
Hamzah had previous convictions for trespass, vandalism, housebreaking and theft by night.
