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SINGAPORE – Less than a month after he was released from prison for sexual abuse, a criminal sexually abused a woman on a bus. While on bail after being charged with this and another crime, he happened to touch two 13-year-old girls, also on a bus.
Singaporean Vaz Clive Hilary Cheng Kiat, 41, deliberately sat behind her victims and slid her hand into the spaces between the seats or a seat and a window to touch them.
Vaz pleaded guilty on Monday (September 14) to two counts of sexually abusing a minor under the age of 14, while two other counts, involving the two women, ages 24 and 31, will be taken into account when Vaz is sentenced.
On May 25 of last year, one of the girls – they cannot be named due to a gag order – boarded the bus near Clarke Quay Central with her parents and younger sister. She sat upstairs with her sister around 8:27 p.m.
Vaz boarded the same bus at around 8.21pm and intentionally sat behind the girl, even though there were many other seats available.
Then he slid his hand into the space between the girl’s seat and the window and touched her right breast on her clothes for a few seconds. The girl turned to look at Vaz as she felt uncomfortable and offended. Vaz withdrew her hand.
The girl was silent as she did not know how to react. A while later, the girl noticed a woman going upstairs. The woman proceeded to sit behind her. The girl turned around, intending to warn the woman about Vaz, and saw that he had changed seats but was looking at her.
Petrified, the girl continued to bite her nails until she got off at 8:26 p.m. near ION Orchard. She disclosed the incident to her mother after descending.
After being charged with this crime, he was again released on bail on July 17 of this year and similarly returned to his former habits. This time, he was caught when the victim approached the bus driver.
On August 3 of this year, the victim boarded a bus at 2:20 p.m. after finishing school. She sat on the top deck of the bus and started using her phone. At some point during her trip, she began to feel pressure on her left waist, but she removed it because she believed it was caused by the weight of her bag.
When the sensation continued for two minutes, the girl looked down and saw Vaz’s fingers resting on her left waist, her hand sticking out of the space between the seats. Vaz had chosen the seat behind her with the intention of touching her.
Shocked, the girl turned and yelled, “What the hell are you doing?” Vaz raised both palms, apologized, and tried to leave. The girl turned to a man in front of her and asked for help, but the man refused and told her to ask the bus driver for help, according to prosecutors.
While the bus was still in motion, the girl followed Vaz and approached the bus captain. She pointed Vaz to the captain, but Vaz repeatedly denied the offense. The bus captain stopped him and asked Vaz to sit down. The girl was now crying and very shocked.
At that moment, another passenger indicated that he wanted to get off. When the doors were opened, Vaz took the opportunity to flee. The passenger tried to push Vaz back on the bus, but Vaz pushed him and he ran away. Seeing this, the girl burst into tears. The other passengers tried to comfort the girl, who later said she was traumatized by the incident and blamed herself for not screaming or fighting back. She said she no longer wanted to take buses.
The passenger ran behind Vaz for 50 meters and grabbed her bag, causing Vaz to fall and fracture her knee. The bus captain called the police and Vaz was taken to the hospital.
Charges taken into consideration
Prior to these incidents with the girls, Vaz had pushed a 31-year-old woman’s chest on her clothes for more than five minutes on a bus on February 11 last year. When the woman screamed and grabbed him, Vaz let go and ran. On March 9 of last year, Vaz sat on a bus behind a 24-year-old woman and used his palm to touch her left triceps.
Vaz was arrested for these crimes on March 12 of last year. He was charged in court a day later and released on bail on April 3 of last year. He continued to abuse the girls more than a month later.
Vaz has admitted that he routinely takes boundless buses to “de-stress” and annoy female passengers. He said he has a fetish for touching them from behind. In March of last year, Vaz took between 13 and 29 buses a day, according to the Singapore Police Transport Command.
