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SINGAPORE – A bubble tea shop owner claimed trial on Tuesday (October 13) for sexually abusing two female employees he hired at a now-defunct outlet.
Tan Kah Heng, 55, is accused of touching the buttocks of two girls, then 16 and 17, while working in his shop, located at an MRT station. However, Tan refuted the allegations by accusing the two of conspiring to frame him, in a trial that began Tuesday.
The Singaporean is challenging nine charges of sexual abuse against the two girls in 2017. Three of them accuse Tan of sexually abusing the 16-year-old girl by touching her buttocks on one occasion in November 2017, and hitting her buttocks and hugging her body from behind on Nov. 12, 2017. The remaining charges relate to Tan brushing the 17-year-old’s buttocks six times in the same month.
Opening the trial, Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Koh conducted evidence on the 16-year-old victim, who testified that Tan hired her to work at the bubble tea shop in October 2017, a month before the alleged crimes.
The girl said she had found the job through an online ad and contacted Tan. She later introduced the same job to the 17-year-old victim, who was her friend from high school.
The girl initially thought the contact was “accidental”
Paid $ 9 an hour, the 16-year-old’s job included making drinks and driving the cashier. While alone in the store with Tan one afternoon in November, the girl remembered Tan grabbing her butt through her shorts as he passed her.
“I was very surprised but I thought it was an accident, I didn’t do anything about it, I just kept making the drinks,” he testified.
He added that he thought the contact was accidental as it was “very brief.”
“I thought if I said something, it would go wrong. If I make that sound like a problem. (I) was scared because he’s my boss, so I didn’t think about that much, ”she added.
After the incident, Tan allegedly began giving the victim pet names via text messages.
“I didn’t like it, he always called me ‘baby’ and I said no, I called him once and … I told him to call me by my name, it’s not professional,” he said, remembering that Tan had simply laughed of your concern.
The second incident occurred after the victim prepared a new drink in the bar area. Tan allegedly told her the drink was good before slapping and grabbing her butt. The girl said she was shocked and raped, but “didn’t have the guts to tell her about it” since Tan was her boss.
Later that day, Tan allegedly told the victim that he wanted to show her a “throwback” technique and stood behind her to hug her, despite the girl’s objections.
Later, the girl told the store manager and the 17-year-old victim and filed a police report on November 15 to encourage them.
The victim stopped working at the establishment following her police report and shared her difficulties in getting her November salary from Tan, who was allegedly evasive.
He claimed that he told his father about the problem and that the man later met Tan in person to recover part of the salary.
While he claimed in the police report that the second and third incidents occurred on November 11, he later said in a police statement that the two incidents occurred on November 12.
Defense attorney dispute dates
During questioning, Tan’s attorney, Chia Boon Teck, presented records showing that the girl had not been working on November 12.
“If you weren’t, how could they have been abused twice that day?” asked the lawyer. The girl replied that she was “not so sure” and later admitted that she may have mistaken the dates.
The attorney then told the victim that she fabricated the Nov. 12 sexual abuse incident to incriminate her client.
Chia also argued that the girl’s father had not mentioned the allegations of sexual abuse when he met Tan about the salary dispute.
“I explained to you that you didn’t tell either of your parents that you were sexually abused… because it wasn’t true in the first place,” the attorney said. The girl did not agree with the statement. She added that she was not close to her parents and did not trust them emotionally, but had told them about the allegations of sexual abuse.
The attorney then accused the victim of exaggerating his evidence in court by adding the element of Tan grabbing his butt, which was not captured on his charge sheets.
