'Photographer' handcuffed and blindfolded 13-year-old girl in Plaza Singapura toilet

SINGAPORE - A 20-year-old man pleaded guilty on Monday (Sept 28) to handcuffing and blindfolding a girl, then 13, before committing various indecent acts on her in a handicapped toilet at Plaza Singapura last year.

Alaric Lim Qixian was then a full-time national serviceman with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

The girl cannot be named because of a gag order to protect her identity.

District Judge Sharmila Sripathy called for probation and reformative training reports to be made.

Lim faces one charge of committing an indecent act with a child under the Children and Young Persons Act, as well as two charges of insulting the modesty of two women. The court heard that in March 2019, Lim met the girl at a cosplay event before they began messaging each other on Instagram.

He claimed to be a photographer who took what he called “risky” pictures of women wearing minimal clothing and offered to take such pictures of her.

The girl said she wanted to take part in a photo shoot depicting bondage, discipline or domination, sadism and masochism, or BDSM, but clarified that she did not want to go fully naked.

Lim then offered to give the girl a test run and suggested they go to an obscure part of a mall.

After agreeing to meet at Plaza Singapura, the pair spent 15 minutes playing a mobile game before Lim brought out a rope, a black blindfold and black leather handcuffs.

In a handicapped toilet on the fourth floor, he began touching her under her shirt.

The court heard that the girl told him to stop and he withdrew his hands, but soon started licking her.

The ordeal lasted 15 minutes and the girl felt "shocked and disgusted" but did not shout for help because she was afraid of what Lim would do.

Afterwards, she took a bus home, showered and told her mother. They made a police report the next day.

Upskirt videos of two women were later found on Lim's phone. He had taken them at Bukit Panjang MRT station on Jan 8 and 11, 2018.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Joshua Phang noted that Lim had committed "three serious offences of a sexual nature".

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Lim's lawyer, Mr Richard Lim, argued that his client had met the girl at a cosplay event, and seeing as this entailed role-playing characters in costume, his client did not believe his acts were sexual in nature.

He said that Lim was admitted to the Institute of Mental Health in June last year for adjustment disorder and has been seeing psychiatrists regularly.

District Judge Sripathy noted that Lim showed "an escalation of sexual (offences) over a period of more than one year".

Lim's case will next be heard on Nov 10.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.