SINGAPORE: A 26-year-old Indian painter in Singapore was sentenced to nine months in prison on Wednesday for molesting a pregnant woman after following her to a lift lobby, according to a media report.
Kota Durga Prasad molested the three-month pregnant woman who was visiting her husband in Singapore on the night of September 5 last year, reported the Channel News Asia.
Kota thought that the victim "looked pretty" and decided to follow her on seeing her crossing a traffic junction in the Jurong West residential area.
He cycled behind her to a lift lobby of a housing block, where he approached her and asked for her phone number, the prosecution told the court.
The woman declined. The victim entered the lift when it arrived, and Kota followed her. When the woman tried to escape, Kota blocked her several times with his body and hands.
The lift doors closed and the victim was trapped in the lift with Kota, who hugged her and put his face very close to her.
The victim gave him her number after Kota cornered her inside the lift and repeatedly blocked her attempts to flee.
The victim struggled, but Kota pressed his body against her until the lift stopped on the 11th floor.
The woman screamed for help, but there was no one else around, and Kota pressed the lift buttons to close the elevator.
When the victim tried to escape again after the doors opened, Kota held her back and pressed his face close to her.
Thinking he was trying to kiss her, the victim pushed him away, before telling him that she was pregnant.
Kota reached out and rubbed her stomach a few times, but eventually left the elevator.
When he got home, he sent the victim multiple messages and called her repeatedly until midnight.
The victim ignored him and contacted her husband, who rushed home and called the police.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Chong Kee En asked for 10 months' jail and caning, saying that Kota had used "quite a degree of wrongful restraint", and followed the victim for some time.