A man who had claimed he could not be held liable by the Singapore courts for offences committed on a foreign ship outside the country was convicted on Tuesday (Nov 15) and given four months' jail.

Singaporean Ng Kok Wai, 29, was found guilty of one count each of housebreaking and theft of a woman's underwear.

Earlier in the trial, District Judge Kow Keng Siong rejected Ng's arguments.

The judge said that when a crime has been committed on a cruise ship operating from Singapore involving its citizens and residents, the Republic's criminal law must have the ability to bring the perpetrator to justice.

Ng was one of the passengers on a three-day cruise to nowhere on board the World Dream, which departed from Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore on Dec 12, 2021.

He shared a cabin with his father, while a woman who did not know him and her two friends shared an adjacent cabin.

On Dec 13, 2021, at around 3pm, while the ship was in the South China Sea, Ng tried but failed to use his key card to open a door to the woman's cabin.

A lock log linked to her cabin recorded Ng's attempt, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Jocelyn Teo told the court.

The woman and her friends left their cabin at around 3.30pm to take part in leisure activities offered on board.

At around 5.40pm, Ng made another unsuccessful attempt to open her cabin door with his key card, according to the lock log.

He returned to his own cabin, and at around 6pm, he climbed over the railing of his cabin's balcony to the adjacent one and managed to enter the woman's cabin as the balcony door was unlocked.

Inside, Ng spotted two pieces of luggage secured with a three-digit combination lock and forced them open.

He took the woman's bra worth $30, walked out of her cabin through the front door, returning to his own cabin at 6.13pm.

His actions in the corridor outside the cabin were captured on closed-circuit television, said the DPP.

He later entered the woman's cabin again.

The prosecutor said: "At about 6.29pm, the accused opened the main door of (the woman's cabin), brought out two pieces of luggage without the consent of the victim and her friends, and left them outside... The accused claimed that he did so to cover up his 'shameful' acts."

When the woman and her friends returned at 8.10pm, they saw the luggage outside the cabin. The woman alerted the cruise management after she found her undergarment missing.

On Dec 19, 2021, a port agent for the ship lodged a report at the Marina Bay Neighbourhood Police Centre about the incident.

On Tuesday, DPP Teo urged the court to sentence Ng to between five and six months' jail, stressing that he had an earlier molestation conviction.

She said Ng was sentenced to two months' jail earlier in 2021.

But defence lawyer Azri Imran Tan from Institutional Review Board Law pleaded for his client to be given between three and four months' jail.

Tan said: "We would highlight that in Mr Ng's case, there was no use of force to enter the premises. Mr Ng had simply climbed between the balconies. Neither was the offence committed at night.

"The item alleged to be stolen was also of low economic value of around $30."

After the sentencing, the lawyer said that Ng may file an appeal, and the latter was then released on bail of $20,000.

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