SINGAPORE — Shahrizan Sunari first molested a man after striking up a conversation about cats earlier this year. 

Less than three weeks later, he touched a teenage boy inappropriately on a public bus. 

The 42-year-old was on Thursday (June 17) jailed six months and one week after pleading guilty to molestation and theft.

Shahrizan’s victims cannot be named because of court orders to protect their identities. His sentence was backdated to April 1.

He first struck on March 12 at Block 233A Sumang Lane in Punggol. 

His victim, a 45-year-old Korean man, was cycling home when he decided to stop and take a photo of a cat near the letterboxes there.

Shahrizan approached him and they began talking about cats.

Shahrizan then said that he liked Korean men and brushed his hand against the victim’s groin area several times.

Stunned and uncomfortable, the victim walked back to his bicycle and rode off to avoid Shahrizan, who returned home.

On March 30, Shahrizan made advances on a 16-year-old on board SBS Transit bus service 50. 

Sitting beside the boy in the last row of the upper deck, Shahrizan began chatting with him, before touching the handle of the teenager’s sling bag. 

In the process, he used the back of his index finger to stroke the teen’s thigh for two or three minutes.

He stopped when the boy asked him in Malay: “What is this?”

The teen alighted at the next stop.

Court documents did not state how these crimes came to light.

The next day, Shahrizan stole footwear, yoghurt drinks and potato chips from a Sheng Siong supermarket along Sumang Lane. 

The store manager caught him leaving with the shoes.

Shahrizan claimed that he was hungry and did not have money to pay for the items, which cost S$23.45.

Court documents showed that he also sent a video showing part of his genitals to another man over messaging application WhatsApp in January. No further details were given.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Eric Hu sought a jail term of six months and one week, saying that Shahrizan was previously fined for theft.

While he suffers from schizophrenia, a serious mental condition that results in distorted thinking, and had a relapse when he stopped taking medication, a psychiatrist from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) found that he was not of unsound mind at the time. 

The IMH doctor noted, though, that the relapse could have caused disinhibition and impaired social judgement.

Even so, Shahrizan knew that his actions were wrong and inappropriate, and there was no evidence of a causal link between his condition and his crimes.

For this reason, DPP Hu argued that a mandatory treatment order, offered to offenders whose mental conditions contributed to their offences, was inappropriate.

For molestation, Shahrizan could have faced a jail term of up to two years, a fine or caning, or any combination of the three.

For theft, he could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined.