[ad_1]
SINGAPORE – A former member of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) was sentenced on Tuesday (October 27) to seven and a half years in jail and six strokes of the cane for sexually abusing a girl and attempting to abuse another victim four months later. .
Mohamed Ardlee Iriandee Mohamed Sanip was convicted on February 27, after a trial, of sexually abusing an eight-year-old girl in January 2018.
On March 23, he admitted in court that he had also tried to abuse a 10-year-old girl in May of that year. The two girls cannot be named due to a gag order.
Court documents did not reveal Ardlee’s rank and role in the Safti Military Institute, his deployment at the time of the crimes.
Before sentencing Ardlee on Tuesday, District Judge John Ng noted that the 40-year-old was a first-time offender, but added that his crimes were “very serious” and involved young school children.
Judge Ng said the punishment should be severe enough to “reflect the condemnation” of such acts.
In her filings, Assistant District Attorney Sruthi Boppana claimed that Ardlee had developed an interest in girls a month before targeting the first victim.
The DPP added that he was also “predisposed to think about sexually abusing them, and had thought about doing so by waiting near elementary schools for opportunities.”
The victim and a friend were walking back from the school around 3 p.m. on January 22, 2018, when they saw him in a block of the Housing Board in Tampines. It is where the friend’s grandparents live.
After taking her friend to her apartment, the victim was near an elevator lobby where Ardlee grabbed her hand and abused her.
He released the girl only after she told him several times to stop. She returned to her friend’s apartment and the police were alerted.
Ardlee struck again on May 21 of that year, when he tried to abuse a 10-year-old girl in Choa Chu Kang.
She was on her way home from school and had entered an elevator alone. When he got to the second floor, he saw Ardlee outside.
When he pushed her towards the corner of a stair landing, she started screaming.
Ardlee released her and fled.
The girl returned home and told her aunt about the incident. Ardlee was arrested the next day.
On October 1, DPP Sruthi urged the judge to sentence the former SAF officer to nine years in prison with seven strokes of the baton.
He said he had committed serious crimes against two young victims.
Defense attorney Mohamed Muzammil Mohamed, who asked for a lighter sentence, said his client had been diagnosed with anxiety and depression.
Muzammil also told the court that Ardlee was under a period of stress when he committed the crimes.
Ardlee is out on $ 30,000 bail and was ordered to surrender in state court on Nov. 2 to begin serving his sentence.
For each count, offenders convicted of sexually abusing a child under the age of 14 can be jailed for up to 10 years and flogged.
[ad_2]
