(Image source from: Expertily)

Indian Businessman Jailed For Molesting Singaporean Nurse:- With three strokes of the cane for molesting and insulting the modesty of a private nurse, an Indian national, Pillai Shyam Kumar Sadashivan, now 47, was sentenced to seven months imprisonment. The nurse was employed to look after his cancer-stricken wife.

Without mincing his words, District Judge Mathew Joseph rebuked the businessman, calling his actions “abhorrent and repugnant”.

“The victim was a professional nurse looking after your sick wife… (not to) provide non-nursing services, contrary to what you expected. This is Singapore. We have different standards here,” a leading news channel quoted the judge as saying.

Initially, Pillai claimed trail to his offences, but on the first day of the hearing in August, decided to plead guilty. Later, he admitted to have molested the then 25-year-old Singaporean nurse and insulting her modesty. Pillai runs a steel trading company in Dubai.

A second count was taken into consideration during sentencing. The count includes insulting the woman’s modesty was taken into consideration. According to the report, Pillai had come to Singapore with his wife to seek medical treatment. It was on December 14 last year, just three days after the nurse started working there, Pillai committed the offences. No one else was present in the apartment, other than the couple. His wife was asleep in her bedroom with the door closed and that is when Pillai took the advantage of the situation. He invited the nurse to sit with him in the living room, where they had a conversation.

“The accused steered the conversation towards sexual matters. The accused stated that he had not had sexual intercourse with his wife for the past months due to her illness and claimed that the girls in Dubai provide extra services. He asked the victim if Singaporean girls are the same,” Deputy Public Prosecutor Gail Wong said.

“The victim understood that the accused was referring to sexual contact and replied that she was a professional nurse and did not do such things.” “Pillai then asked the nurse to lift her top. He molested her after she declined.”

However, as the nurse was concerned about the sick woman’s health, she continued to take care of Pillai’s ailing wife and even returned to work the next day. But, the police was later alerted by her about her ordeal and stopped going to Pillai’s home. Wong said, as a result of the incident, the victim had to seek counseling and could not return to her nursing job for a while.

Earlier, Judge Joseph was asked by the prosecution to sentence Pillai to seven months imprisonment with three strokes of the cane. It added that the vulnerable victim was disrespected by him. Pillai is now out on SGD15,000 bail and on October 16, will have to surrender himself at the State Courts, to serve his sentence. He could have been jailed for up to two years and fined or caned, for molesting the nurse. And also, he could have been jailed for up to a year and fined, for insulting her modesty, according to report.

SUPRAJA