“He clearly expected us to keep quiet and walk away. It shocked him when we didn’t. We recorded him.
We need to show them that they can’t get away with doing whatever they want.” – Women, 27, tells Wake Up Singapore why she decided to file a Police Report
A woman, 27, has filed a police report following an incident with a man onboard a train in Punggol LRT between Meridian and Cove station this morning (18 May 2024).
What Happened
Rachel (not her real name), boarded the train at Meridian LRT station and she had her earpiece on. She noticed a balding man wearing a short-sleeved pink shirt who appeared to be holding a phone near her with the speaker of the phone facing her.
Instinctively, Rachel turned off the noise-cancelling feature on her earpiece. She was then able to hear that the man was blaring the word “Prostitute” out loud using his handphone speaker. The man allegedly smirked at her as well.
While she wanted to step and walk away, Rachel mustered the courage to look the man in the eye and snap a photo of him while he continued blasting the word “Prostitute” using his speakers.
The man saw that Rachel took a photo of him. He immediately alighted at the next stop, Cove Station.
Rachel observed that the man appeared to be very comfortable doing such brazen acts, and wondered if it was his first time doing such a thing.
Police Report Filed
At 11.40am that same morning, Rachel lodged a police report in relation to the incident. This contemporaneous report was filed less than 30 minutes after the incident.
In her report, Rachel noted that such actions may traumatise young children.
Even though she did not manage to get a video of the incident, she filed her police report as she did not want the man to think that he could get away with what he did.
An officer from Ang Mo Kio Police Division got in touch with Rachel within two hours of her report, and she thanked the Police for their swift turnaround on a Saturday afternoon.
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Rachel told Wake Up Singapore that she hopes that her actions deterred the man from carrying on with his actions. She also said that keeping quiet and walking away in such situations (which was her first instinct) may help to boost the confidence of such men.
A recent, but unrelated, video by Valerie provides a useful primer on what dealing with harassment or stalking on trains in Singapore.
@valeriebubbletea PSA for all girls and women in singapore!! 🇸🇬 Sorry for the long video i wanted to put this PSA out quickly instead of doing rounds of editing, and then move on from this! (I rly dont want to talk about this anymore after posting this PSA) Since the first video was posted, alot of women mentioned that this happened to them too so im making this video so it might benefit another woman especially younger girls if they are in this situation. Video flow: 1. What happened 2. What you should do if you are in this situation 3. Dispelling victim blaming ideas (especially important for young girls to hear) #womenssafety #smrt #stalking #psa #safetyfirst #harassmentawareness
More from Wake Up Singapore:-
Woman pretends to record TikTok dance in a bid to film the men who allegedly stalked her
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