Singapore — Xie Danpeng, a scientist with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), was given a 10-week jail sentence and fined $1,600 on Monday (Nov 1).
The 31-year-old Chinese national exposed his naked body to a total of three women in a condominium. The third incident where he appeared naked to a woman came after he was banned from entering the premises.
Xie had entered a guilty plea to one count of trespass, one count of dishonest misappropriation of property, and two counts of sexual exposure.
Two additional charges were considered in his sentencing.
While the scientist is still with A*Star, he has been suspended since July and an internal disciplinary process has been started against him, Yahoo! News Singapore quotes a spokesperson for the company as saying.
A woman saw him in the common area with his genitals exposed and masturbating while she was en route to her unit after having hung laundry.
She then whipped out her phone and started filming him, but this did not cause him to stop.
Instead, he kept on touching himself while looking at her. The woman ran back to the unit where she worked and showed the video to her employer, who called the police.
Another woman saw Xie from her balcony and told her boyfriend, who came out and asked the scientist what he was doing.
This sent Xie scurrying to his own unit, but he was later confronted by the boyfriend, who also told the manager of the condominium about the incident, leading to Xie’s arrest and eviction from his unit.
He was also banned from April 14, 2020, from entering the premises.
Police were called when Xie tried to return on April 15, and Xie was told to coordinate with his landlord to get his possessions out of the unit.
But on April 19, the scientist returned to the condominium through an unlocked door and took a pair of shoes belonging to one of the women who had witnessed his obscene act.
He then left, only to return half an hour later to return her shoes, and the woman saw him again.
A police report was filed against Xie due to this incident.
And on June 12, he went back to the condominium, entering the unit of yet another woman and lying on her bed in the nude. He also walked through her apartment in transparent underwear.
On another occasion, he stole a bicycle worth $600 from the premises of Alexandra Retail Centre. He was seen on video footage taking the bike away.
Chung Ting Fai, Xie’s lawyer, said that he had no problems at work prior to the lockdown and that he has still been able to do his work remotely.
However, he is suffering from exhibitionistic disorder and adjustment disorder with depressed mood, the lawyer said. /TISG
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A*Star scientist allegedly performed sexual act in backyard of condo