2 months & 2 weeks jail for man who cut women’s hair off on buses to smell it later

SINGAPORE: A man who used a pair of scissors to cut off the hair of women riding on public buses in Singapore has been jailed for two months and two weeks.

Last Thursday (Sep 11), 26-year-old Edwin Chow Rui Xiong pleaded guilty to using criminal force with intent to outrage modesty and being armed with an instrument for cutting.

Caught in the act

On Aug 3, Chow took a seat on the upper deck of bus service 185 in Dover. When a woman with her hair in a ponytail got on the bus, he moved to the seat directly behind her.

He then took out a pair of scissors from a bag and cut two inches from her ponytail, and put the hair in a plastic bag. His plan was to smell the hair once he got home, as he felt aroused by women with long hair.

His victim, however, felt that something had gone wrong and touched her ponytail. When she turned around to confront Chow, and he refused to say a word, she turned to the bus driver for help.

The police came and examined Chow’s bag, where they found five pairs of scissors, as well as other plastic bags that contained hair. This led to Chow’s arrest on the same day.

Chow’s sentencing

While under investigation, Chow admitted that he liked women with long hair and that cutting off their hair and sniffing it afterwards excited him. In fact, on the day of his arrest, he had cut the hair of two other women before boarding bus service 185. At Chow’s sentencing on September 11, two other charges related to these incidents were taken into consideration.

When District Judge Salina Ishak asked Chow if he wanted to ask for leniency, he refused. When she asked if he was sure that he did not want to say anything in mitigation, Chow said he wanted to have a lighter sentence since he had an appointment to keep next week at the Institute of Mental Health. The judge then told him to tell the officers at the prison about the appointment.

Those found guilty of using criminal force with intent to outrage modesty could be jailed for three years, fined, and caned.

Shin Min Daily News reported that Chow had been sentenced to 21 months’ probation in 2020 due to theft and assault charges. /TISG

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