Jail for school cleaner who hugged and kissed boy, 6, then touched his private parts over clothes
Samuel Devaraj
The Straits Times
July 3, 2024
A cleaner who most likely has a paedophilic disorder molested two pupils, aged six and seven, from different schools.
On July 3, Lim Keow Hock, 65, was sentenced to 25 months' jail and a further eight weeks' imprisonment in lieu of caning.
He cannot be caned as he is over 50.
He pleaded guilty to four charges - two counts of outrage of modesty of a person below 14 years old, a voyeurism charge and a charge of showing pornography to a minor.
There is a gag order on the victims' identities.
Lim had previously been convicted and jailed in 2019 for touching a boy's buttocks and private parts in a toilet while working as a cleaner in the boy's school.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Kelly Ng said that some time before 1.40pm on June 14, 2021, a six-year-old boy on the second floor of the school he was attending wanted to use the toilet.
Before walking down to a toilet on the first floor, he noticed Lim on the second floor, walking around, looking left and right.
As the boy was walking down the staircase, Lim called for him to come back up.
After the boy did so, Lim hugged him and kissed him twice on the cheek. He then touched the boy's stomach, back and private parts over his clothes.
Afterwards, he asked the boy if he could follow him to the toilet, but the boy said "no".
An operations manager in the school who saw Lim hug the victim told Lim that he should not be touching any of the students. Lim apologised.
After the operations manager left, the boy ran down the staircase but saw that Lim was following him.
The boy entered a cubicle in a toilet on the first floor, and when he came out, he saw that Lim was waiting inside the toilet.
Lim gave a rice dumpling to the boy, said goodbye and left the toilet.
The boy threw the rice dumpling into a dustbin as he felt uncomfortable, said DPP Ng, adding that the boy felt very scared and disgusted by Lim's actions.
A police report was filed later that day and Lim was arrested and released on bail.
On Jan 21, 2022, while working as a cleaner at a different school, Lim approached the second victim, who was using a urinal in a toilet, and asked him: "Do you want 'sayang' (Malay for 'affection')?"
After the seven-year-old boy said "no", Lim took out his mobile phone, showed him a pornographic video and said: "Don't tell mummy and anyone."
DPP Ng said the boy watched about two seconds of the video and was shocked.
After the victim had finished using the urinal, Lim pulled his shorts back on for him and tucked the boy's shirt into his shorts.
As he did so, he touched the boy's hips over his clothes.
Lim asked the boy again if he wanted to "sayang", and the boy said "no". Lim then hugged him from behind for about three seconds.
"(The victim) was scared and terrified due to the accused's actions," said DPP Ng.
A police report was filed on the same day. Lim was arrested and released on bail.
On July 29, 2023, a security officer at Northpoint City saw Lim looking around while at the urinal section in one of the mall's toilets.
The officer found Lim suspicious, and he also recalled that the management of Northpoint City had been looking for Lim as they had received multiple complaints about a Chinese man taking photographs inside the toilets.
As the security officer continued to watch Lim, he saw Lim attempting to use his mobile phone to photograph a man while he was using a urinal.
The officer approached Lim, asked what he was doing, and asked for his phone.
Lim refused to hand over his phone, went into a toilet cubicle for people with disabilities and tried deleting the photographs he had taken with his phone.
The security officer called the police, and Lim was arrested.
Investigations revealed that between July 8 and 28, 2023, Lim had taken photographs of eight boys who were under 14 years old using the urinals.
DPP Ng said Lim had secretly taken the photographs as he was curious about how people urinated and that he would look at them later.
The prosecutor asked the court to sentence Lim to between 25 and 35 months' jail and a further eight weeks' jail in lieu of caning.
She said: "The accused has been assessed to likely suffer from paedophilic disorder and to pose at least a moderate to high risk of sexual violence to young children."
