SINGAPORE — A man who carried a drunk woman into a taxi and tried to take her to two hotels, before finally leaving her at the void deck of a public housing block, was sentenced to eight months’ jail.

He was found guilty of an abduction charge on Wednesday (Dec 18).

Shamsul Abdullah, 53, had earlier claimed trial to two charges of molesting the victim in 2016 when she was 23 years old — allegedly in the taxi and at the said void deck.

Last month, however, District Judge Tan Jen Tse said that it was “unsafe” to convict him of those charges based solely on the “highly intoxicated” victim’s testimony, which was not convincing.

The victim cannot be named due to a court order to protect her identity.

The judge noted that she had drifted in and out of consciousness, with a psychiatrist testifying that she had likely been suffering from an alcohol-induced blackout. This is where the person’s memory is impaired during episodes of intoxication but may be conscious and is able to carry on conversations.

Following the verdict on Wednesday, the prosecution has filed appeals against the acquittal of the man on the molestation charges. 

TOLD TO KEEP AN EYE ON HER

During the trial, the victim testified that on May 15, 2016, she had been drinking at a cafe that night and felt her body growing heavy. 

She fought to stay awake and recalled being taken down the stairs of the cafe to the street level.

She said that when she next regained consciousness, she was in the back of a taxi, her upper body draped over Shamsul’s lap.

Based on the testimony of the victim’s male friend, they were outside the Hotel 81 branch on Lavender Street and he specifically asked Shamsul to keep an eye on her. 

Shamsul did not know the woman.

The friend had to go back to the cafe to retrieve his bank card that he had left behind.

Despite agreeing to stay there with the victim, Shamsul hailed a taxi and carried her into the rear passenger seat. He sat next to her behind the driver’s seat — an account corroborated by the driver and the victim.

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Shamsul initially claimed that she had asked him to take her home and that they went directly to the block of flats where she lived.

He also alleged that the taxi driver took them on his own to two hotels in Balestier and Geylang, and he did not instruct the driver to do so.

Later on, he changed his account, stating that he asked the taxi driver to take them to a hotel to allow her to meet up with her male friend.

Shamsul’s attempts to take her to the two hotels failed after she repeatedly shouted out her postal code, arousing the driver’s suspicions.

The woman told the court that Shamsul had lifted her dress and fondled her in the taxi, while she was “under the effects of alcohol”. She also said that he took her to a bench at the void deck, where he allegedly molested her a second time.

While on the witness stand, she said: “I developed a mistrust of people around me and I lost contact with my friends, because in the months after that, even after a year, I still lose control of my emotions… I avoided dark and crowded areas, I could not stand being in a cab at night.”