SINGAPORE – The 24-year-old man who exposed and fondled himself in front three women – including a wheelchair user – and persisted in following them was sentenced to three weeks’ jail on Friday (Aug 25).

Muhammad Ariffin Abdul Majid was chided by District Judge Lorraine Ho for trying to “annoy and provoke” his victims through repeated obscene acts, and for causing fear by tailing them from one place to another.

On June 30 at about 10am, Ariffin preyed on a 62-year-old woman who was waiting for the lift at the void deck of 632B Punggol Drive. She had just completed a morning workout and spotted Ariffin loitering around the lift lobby.

When the lift arrived, he entered and held the doors open, as if waiting for the woman to join him. The woman, who cannot be named as she was a victim, felt uncomfortable and stayed put. Ariffin then exited the lift.

Finding his behaviour suspicious, she walked to the next block and stayed close to a domestic helper pushing an elderly woman in a wheelchair at the void deck. Ariffin tailed her and stopped at a wall behind the trio.

The 62-year-old woman tried twice to call her husband but was unsuccessful. Ariffin flashed the three women and touched himself obscenely. He continued his pursuit after they moved to a public park and, as he moved closer, they hurried towards a nearby block.

At one point, the 62-year-old woman turned to look at him and he flashed her a second time. The group sped up until they shook him off.

Apart from committing obscene acts in a public place, Ariffin was also charged with transmitting obscene images electronically.

During a dispute with his then-girlfriend in 2015, he uploaded two topless photographs of her on microblogging site Tumblr in anger.

He took down the photos from his Tumblr account later, but another user had saved them and uploaded them again onto the site.

His ex-girlfriend, now 23, discovered the photos circulating online five months after they broke up. On Oct 1 last year, a stranger sent her a message on photo sharing application Instagram, which contained a link to a website with her photographs. She filed a police report the next day.

Ariffin, whose occupation was not mentioned in court, said that he was remorseful for his actions and would not repeat them.

District Judge Ho also rapped him for trying to take revenge on his ex-girlfriend, or spiting her out of anger, by uploading the photographs.