A former Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) Lieutenant-Colonel was on Friday (Dec 2) cleared of stalking after he read an apology to his victim in court and donated S$4,000 to two charities of her choice.

Goh Wee Hong, 39, reached the agreement with the female victim — who had accused him of making sexual advances through text messages between Aug 27 and Aug 30 last year — for the matter to be dropped in return for some form of compensation.

The 28-year-old woman cannot be named due to a court gag order.

The settlement, known as the compounding of an offence, is allowed under the law for certain criminal offences which are typically of a private nature, including simple molestation, wrongful restraint and mischief.

Offenders whose cases are compounded will not get a criminal record.

The prosecution decided to offer this settlement after a series of interviews with the victim and in light of “further developments”, which it did not elaborate on.

Goh, who is married with a child, was hauled to court in March this year and faced one charge of stalking under the Protection of Harassment Act, which came into force in November 2014.

Goh allegedly asked the victim, with whom he had a working relationship, to be “friends with benefits”. TODAY understands that she worked for one of the vendors involved in the Home Team Festival last year.

She made a police report in September last year and Goh resigned thereafter.

In his written apology, Goh said: “I should not have sent you said text messages and I am extremely sorry for the effect they had on you. I am deeply remorseful of my actions and hope that you can accept my apology.”

He had also paid S$2,000 each to the Association of Women for Action and Research, and the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled for Singapore, at the victim’s request.

The case, which was scheduled to be settled on Nov 25, was delayed because the victim was having her wedding photographs taken abroad, and could not show up for the hearing.

In an interview with a Chinese newspaper last week, the victim accused Goh of “abusing his authority” and also called on women not to “tolerate harassment from their bosses or clients”.

“So don’t be afraid, be brave and speak up for yourself,” Lianhe Wanbao quoted the woman as saying.

Goh could have been jailed up to a year and/or fined up to S$5,000.

Source:
courtesy of TODAY

by KELLY NG

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