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Indian man breaks into neighbour's house through kitchen in Singapore; jailed for molestation
The convict's lawyer argued that he comes from a humble Indian family and sought a seven-month jail for him.
An Indian national was jailed for seven months in Singapore for trespassing into his neighbour’s condominium and harassing a woman, reported local news outlet Channel News Asia. The 26-year-old convict, identified as Erakkodan Abinraj, pleaded guilty to one count of molestation.
One count of housebreaking was also taken into consideration to sentence Abhinraj to jail, the report added.
The incident happened back in 2024 on September 22. Abhinraj was acquainted with the woman since the two were neighbours and had bumped into each other on several occasions.
What happened
Early in the morning on September 22 last year, as the 36-year-old was sleeping with her husband in the master bedroom, Abhinraj broke into their home through the kitchen balcony which connected the two condominiums, the report said. The woman's daughter was also sleeping in another room when the incident happened.
Abhinaraj, using his phone torch, navigated his way to the master bedroom and proceeded to touch her which woke her up, the report added.
"She turned to her left to look at her husband and saw that he was sleeping. Puzzled, she turned to her right and saw the accused holding up his handphone with the torchlight on," the report quoted Deputy Public Prosecutor Kathy Chu as saying.
The woman then screamed and woke her husband up who confronted Abhinraj. Scared, Abhinraj urinated inside the room and requested the husband to not call the police, however, the latter called the cops.
While Abhinaraj admitted to breaking into the woman's home, he denied touching her and said that it was his cellphone that fell on her and woke her up, the report said.
The prosecution demanded a jail time of around six to eight months for Abhinraj, saying that the woman was in a vulnerable position because she was asleep when the incident happened. The prosecution also cited Abinraj urinating inside her home as an added inconvenience for the woman.
However, Abhinraj’s lawyer argued that he comes from a humble Indian family and sought a seven-month jail for him. He also said that Abhinraj’s grandmother had died by suicide which caused mental disturbance to the convict when the incident happened.
Countering this, the prosecution said that Abhinraj was not diagnosed with any mental condition by the Institute of Mental Health, to which his lawyer said he was just going through “normal depression” due to his circumstances.
