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SINGAPORE: A student at the National University of Singapore (NUS) was jailed for six weeks on Monday (January 4) for stealing women’s lingerie from the rooms of a hostel on campus.
Pei Shao Bo, 25, pleaded guilty to three counts of robbery, and six other counts were taken into consideration, including trespassing.
The court heard that Pei was a student at NUS at the time of the crimes earlier this year. He had a fetish for female underwear and went to a hostel block to steal clothes.
He did not stay in the block, which was not named to avoid identifying the victims, but pointed it out because the block was the closest to the school.
He kept the stolen underwear in a drawstring bag at home and felt it while he masturbated. He stained some of the items and threw away the dirty ones.
The four victims in the case, all NUS students in their 20s, were not in the habit of locking the hostel rooms when they left.
Pei stole several bras or panties from them in January and February of last year by walking into their open rooms and coming out in the lingerie.
Some of the victims were unaware that someone had entered their rooms and only realized later when they heard that there was a burglar on their block.
Pei was caught red-handed on February 8 last year by one of the victims who saw him in his room without a key. When she asked him what he was doing there, he did not respond and instead escaped, only to be identified by security footage.
The victim made a police report and investigations led to the discovery of the other crimes.
Police recovered some of Pei’s stolen underwear, but none of the victims want her items back, Assistant District Attorney Kayal Pillay said.
He called for a six-week jail term, saying the importance of the case goes beyond the relatively low value of the items.
She said Pei deliberately entered the student rooms and took their items for her personal sexual gratification.
All the victims were young college students living far from their parents and Pei had invaded their rooms, which were places where they were supposed to feel safe.
“The defendant was able to enter all four rooms on five occasions because they were open,” Ms. Pillay said. “This was not a public space that everyone had access to.”
He added that the rooms were open because the victims were not in the habit of closing their rooms, which “speaks of a culture of trust and security shared by these victims.”
After the incidents, the women began to close their doors.
Pei has made no restitution attempts and his status as a student at the university could have given him the opportunity to commit a number of crimes, Ms. Pillay said.
“The fact that you have performed well academically or in other areas of your life should not detract from the seriousness of the crimes.”
The defense tried to request parole, saying Pei was facing stress at the time of the crimes, which occurred in just under a month.
Ms. Pillay cited the framework established by the superior court for the case of NUS student Terence Siow, which states that rehabilitation is rarely the primary concern of adult offenders.
I AM REALLY ONLY SORRY FOR MYSELF: PROSECUTION
On the defense’s point of remorse, Ms Pillay said that Pei “really only regrets the consequences to himself.”
“The defendant highlights through his attorney that he is sorry that his hard work … at NUS has now been overshadowed by this case,” he said. “The defendant notes that in retrospect he deeply regrets his actions because they have destroyed his hard work towards his studies.”
He added that no steps towards reform appear to have been taken apart from the advice ordered by the university. While Pei may have a fetish for women’s underwear, there’s no indication that he couldn’t resist this urge.
Pointing to the defense’s arguments about the stress of being in his senior year at NUS, as well as the fact that his girlfriend had broken up with him, Ms. Pillay said these factors are “an integral part of life.”
“It does not give him leeway to commit this crime or any crime,” he said. “While the defendant may have been facing stressful life events, these are events that any typical senior may experience. It cannot be an excuse for him to commit these crimes and put the blame on his feet for the stresses of his lifetime”.
For each count of theft, Pei could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined.
CNA has contacted NUS for more information.
