SINGAPORE: A serial paedophile, with convictions dating back to 1986, was sentenced to six years in corrective training for molesting a seven-year-old boy in the toilet of a hawker centre.
Forty-five-year-old Seyad Sulaiman Maideen Pillai pleaded guilty to outraging the modesty of the American boy at Hougang Kovan Market.
Sulaiman was working as a cleaner at the market.
On 1 February 2011, the boy was having dinner there with his family when he left halfway for the toilet.
Sulaiman followed him into a toilet cubicle, locked the door and stripped him.
He touched the boy's groin, hugged him and tried to kiss his neck as well.
Sulaiman eventually allowed the boy to leave after washing the boy's groin.
The incident came to light when the boy told his father, who called the police.
In
passing sentence on Tuesday, District Judge Ng Peng Hong noted that
Sulaiman was diagnosed with paedophilia and had a "moderate to high risk
of re-offending".
He found Sulaiman suitable for corrective training or preventive detention.
This harsher prison regime sees recalcitrant offenders jailed between five and 14 years, with no remission for good behaviour.
Sulaiman
was charged with 34 counts of sexual offences in 1999 and was sentenced
to five years of corrective training and six strokes of the cane.
He faced several similar charges in 1986 and 1995.
- CNA/wk