• Prosecutors pointed out contradictory details given by the accused about hugs from a female colleague
• Unlike what he said in court, he told police that they had hugged about five to six times, and he had initiated one of it
• The prosecution also suggested that he became harsh to the two alleged victims because he wanted to scare them into not speaking up

SINGAPORE — A senior public servant had testified in court that his female colleague hugged him first on two occasions, but at the latest hearing, different details emerged. He had earlier told the police that they had hugged five to six times, with him initiating it once. 

On Thursday (Sept 3), prosecutors interrogated him on these discrepancies between his police statement and his court testimony, as he took the witness stand for the third day in an ongoing trial.

The public servant, now aged 66, has worked at a statutory board since 2004 and has been suspended since April 2018.

He is contesting six charges of molesting two female colleagues, who were his direct subordinates, over about nine months in 2016 at their workplace.

Their workplace and all parties involved in the case cannot be named due to a court order to protect the identities of his alleged victims, who were 43 and 55 years old at the time.

Five of the six charges relate to the younger woman. He also faces three other charges of molesting the older woman when they were overseas for work, which will be dealt with later.

'CHANGED STORY TO REDUCE CULPABILITY'

During cross-examination, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Goh Yi Ling read out parts of a police statement the accused had given on April 16 in 2018 — shortly after the allegations came to light.

He told police that he had initiated a hug when the younger woman was promoted in 2016.

“She always hugged me… She would also comment, ‘You are like my father’,” he said then. He also said that they had hugged about five to six times, and elaborated on four of those instances.

However, he told the court this week that she hugged him first when she learned of the promotion, and that he thought it was “awkward and impolite” to reject it.

He is now accused of hugging her so tightly that her breasts were pressing against his body on three occasions.

Later, he is also said to have squeezed her buttocks and pressed his private parts against her upper torso.

During a lengthy exchange, DPP Goh said that he had changed his story to make himself less culpable. He disagreed and said that his police statement was inaccurate on some points.

“I’m putting it to you that these so-called inaccuracies in your statement was because you are lying in your evidence in court,” the prosecutor said. He disagreed again.

When his lawyer — Mr Terence Tan from Drew & Napier — asked him to clarify his “muddled” state of mind at the time, he said that the police summoned him the day before to “help in some investigation” without giving more details.

“I tried to be as forthcoming as possible. A lot of things, I couldn’t recall,” he added.

He also said that on Wednesday, he should have said he “maybe” breached protocol by apparently hugging them back, instead of agreeing with the prosecution that he did breach it.

“If I don’t actually accept an invitation from a lady for a hug, it could be very awkward or impolite. Either way, (there is) some issue,” he said.

He had followed protocols from a set of emails sent to supervisors about what to do when giving promotion news, but the emails did not specify what not to do, he told the court.

On hindsight, he would not have accepted the hug and “just be awkward there”, he added.

He also sought to explain a work review in 2017, where he had reprimanded the younger woman over two critical mistakes and was apparently “very condescending” towards her.

He said that he had wanted her to work somewhere else where “she would have contributed much more”. “But unfortunately, the way I conveyed it may have sounded very condescending to her there.”

HEALTH PROBLEMS

In relation to the older woman, DPP Goh questioned if the accused was aware of some “serious health problems” she had after his alleged advances on her.

He is similarly accused of hugging her tightly at their workplace.

She had fainted twice in the office, suffered from depression, and had a persistent cough and breathlessness. She also felt suicidal at one point.

DPP Goh said: “According to her, it was because of your inappropriate actions towards her in 2016 that she experienced health problems to this degree.”

The man denied this, as well as another assertion by the prosecution that he had deliberately excluded another colleague from overseas work trips in order to be alone with the older woman.

DPP Goh then referred to his testimony that his relationships with the two women had changed in 2017. He had admitted to reprimanding them over some mistakes.

Asking if he was familiar with the term “power dynamics”, the prosecutor probed him on whether he had “a lot more power” over his subordinates, given his seniority and influence in the statutory board.

She also asked if the alleged victims dared not speak up because it would affect their work performance.

“I suggest to you that in 2017, your attitude towards them became very harsh because you wanted to instil that fear of repercussion… Wasn’t this why you were very surprised to find out in April 2018 that they had indeed spoken up and you were interdicted?” she said.

“I disagree,” he replied.

The trial continues on Friday, with several former and current employees of the statutory board taking the witness stand.