By Gurdip SinghSingapore, Oct 13 (PTI) An Indian national was todaysentenced to seven months in jail with three strokes of thecane for molesting and insulting the modesty of a privatenurse employed to look after his cancer-stricken wife.
District Judge Mathew Joseph did not mince his words whenhe chided businessman Pillai Shyam Kumar Sadashivan, now 47,calling his actions "abhorrent and repugnant".
"The victim was a professional nurse looking after yoursick wife... (not to) provide non-nursing services, contraryto what you expected. This is Singapore. We have differentstandards here," the Straits Times quoted the judge as saying.
Pillai, who runs a steel trading company in Dubai,initially claimed trial to his offences but decided to pleadguilty on the first day of the hearing in August.
He admitted to molesting the then 25-year-old Singaporeannurse and insulting her modesty.
A second count of insulting the woman's modesty was takeninto consideration during sentencing.
Pillai had come to Singapore with his wife to seekmedical treatment, according to the report.
He committed the offences on December 14 last year, justthree days after the nurse started working there.
Other than the couple, no one else was present in theapartment.
In December, his wife was asleep in her bedroom with thedoor closed when Pillai invited the nurse to sit with him inthe living room, where they had a conversation.
"The accused steered the conversation towards sexualmatters. The accused stated that he had not had sexualintercourse with his wife for the past months due to herillness and claimed that the girls in Dubai provide extraservices. He asked the victim if Singaporean girls are thesame," Deputy Public Prosecutor Gail Wong said.
"The victim understood that the accused was referring tosexual contact and replied that she was a professional nurseand did not do such things.""Pillai then asked the nurse to lift her top. He molestedher after she declined."The nurse continued to take care of Pillai's ailing wifeand even returned to work the next day, as she was concernedabout the sick woman's health. But she later alerted thepolice about her ordeal and stopped going to Pillai's home.
Wong said that as a result of the incident, thetraumatised woman had to seek counselling and could not returnto her nursing job for a while.
The prosecution had earlier asked Judge Joseph tosentence Pillai to seven months' jail with three strokes ofthe cane, stressing that the Indian national had disrespectedhis vulnerable victim.
Pillai is now out on SGD 15,000 bail and will surrenderhimself at the State Courts on October 16 to serve hissentence.
For molesting the nurse, he could have been jailed for upto two years and fined or caned. And for insulting hermodesty, he could have been jailed for up to a year and fined,according to report. PTI GS AMS AKJAMS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.