SINGAPORE — Attracted by a female secondary school student around his age but from a different school, a teenager decided to observe her movements, before he chose to restrain her and threaten her with a sharp object.

He had accosted her near her home, with the intention to molest her at a staircase landing.

On Monday (July 20), Muhammad Andy Aiman Mohamed Firdaus, now 17, pleaded guilty to one charge of wrongfully restraining his victim, who cannot be named due to a court order to protect her identity. 

The court called for both a probation as well as a reformative training suitability report. Probation is a rehabilitative sentence usually offered to offenders under 21, while reformative training is a strict regimen aimed at rehabilitating offenders below the age of 21 who commit relatively serious crimes.

Andy will return to court on Aug 7 for sentencing.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Ang Siok Chen told the court that Andy first came across his victim around February last year, but did not elaborate on where or the circumstances in which he first noticed her.

It was also not stated how Andy discovered where the victim was living, but DPP Ang said the boy found out that the girl usually left home for school at 6am after observing her for a time.

On Nov 5 last year, Andy decided that he wanted to meet the victim in person. He left his house just before 6am wearing a green shirt with an Institute of Technical Education College East T-shirt underneath. It is not known if he was studying at the college at the time. 

He had with him a crescent-shaped piece of acrylic that was about 10cm from end to end, and a mask that had a camouflage pattern.

After arriving at the Housing and Development Board (HDB) block where his victim lived, Andy took a lift up to the ninth floor and went to a staircase landing where he took off his green shirt. DPP Ang said that the boy then wore the mask hoping that it would prevent him from being identified by surveillance cameras.

He then made his way up to the 10th floor and waited for his victim.

When he finally spotted her at the lift lobby, he approached her from behind and covered her mouth with his left hand while pointing the piece of acrylic at her with his right.

He said to her: “Keep quiet, follow me. If not, I will kill you.” 

DPP Ang said that Andy’s intention was to get the victim to go to the staircase landing where he could molest her.

All this time, the girl kept struggling and asking Andy who he was.

In the end, Andy did not molest her because he realised that the girl was scared, the prosecution said.

Instead, he released her and apologised to her, but not before warning her not to tell anyone about the incident.

The girl made a police report late that night, and Andy was arrested the next day.

The maximum penalty for wrongfully restraining someone is a jail term of 10 years and caning.