After an old man cupped her buttocks at a supermarket, one woman refused to remain quiet, raising such ruckus that the man was chased by Sheng Shiong personnel and later arrested by the police.
“I WAS MOLESTED YESTERDAY,” Ms Siti Mariam wrote in an Apr 22 Facebook post.
She had been shopping for groceries at Sheng Shiong at 154A Bukit Batok West Ave 8 with her young son when she “felt a hand cupped and brushed up my butt.”
It did not feel like an accidental touch, but an “intentional caress that lasted for a good 2 seconds”, she said.
At first, she thought it might have been her son who touched her, but when she turned, she came face to face with a man she described as “an old apek, botak, slightly shorter than me, grinning back at me”.
“I shouted ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!’ and instinctively brought up my hand to slap him. But my hand hit his phone on the way up and I managed to stop myself before I brutally murder him with my daun sop (chinese celery). I then bellowed at the top of my lungs ‘You better stay where you are, I’m calling the police!’”
The man began moving away from her. She went after him while trying to call the police as he made his way out of the supermarket.
Ms Siti also called out, “Someone help me stop him PLEASE. He molested me!!!” but said that no one came to her aid.
“At this point, everybody just looked at me, confused. The whole store went silent but nobody helped,” she added.
While on the phone with the police and holding her groceries in her hands, she “grabbed the apek by his back collar, telling him to stop.”
“The urge to punch him there and then, was oh so intense. I was angry, at him and at the fact that nobody tried to help or even asked what’s going on. I didn’t even care that I was fasting (we cannot get angry you see?). In my mind, I just wanted to get him real good.”
But the man got away again. And while a lady staff at the grocery tried to stop him from leaving, he was able to leave.
Ms Siti could not follow him because she was still hanging on to her groceries and had not yet paid for them. She was also still on the phone with the police.
Fortunately, two Sheng Siong staff ran after the man and brought him back. The police arrived later and arrested him.
“He is 66 years old. No priors (more like didn’t get caught before ah!) He admitted that he felt like molesting today, and so he did. CCTV showed his actions very clearly. It also showed very clearly of me trying to strike him. Ooops. Natural instinct OK?
Ms Siti said she was telling her story to thank the three people from Sheng Shiong who helped her, as well as to tell those who are molested not to stay quiet so that the culprits don’t get away.
She also asks people who witness such situations to help out. She said that she and her son were fine.
“I had fever last night for a while maybe out of shock. Felt a little better after talking to the IO. She reassured me that wanting to hit him immediately was a normal reaction but not many can do that. Sadly most victims will just walk away.
“So fight or flight? Fight. Definitely fight.”
Netizens commenting on her post cheered her on, with many telling Ms Siti they are proud of her.
/TISG