News Update S'pore Ex-hotel GM denies molest
By Khushwant Singh
Tan Hwa Kok (above) said that the 24-year-old Malaysian woman had asked him for a sleeping pill. He had not done it surreptitiously to take sexual advantage of her.
SHE wanted a job here and appeared to like him, said the former general manager of Hotel Grand Central, who is accused of doping and molesting the job applicant in February last year.
Tan Hwa Kok, 45, said this on the stand on Monday after his defence was called. Denying that he had doped her so as to molest her, he said that the 24-year-old Malaysian woman had asked him for a sleeping pill. He had not done it surreptitiously to take sexual advantage of her, he testified.
The woman came from Sarawak on Feb 3 last year, hoping to get a marketing job in the hotel here However, she alleged that two days after the interview, Tan slipped Zolpidem, a powerful sleeping pill that can be prescribed only by doctors, into her drink. He is then alleged to have kissed her lips and licked her private parts at about 11.30am on Feb 5 last year.
Tan, who resigned from his job a month later and is now a business consultant, insisted he did not force himself on her, saying she was a willing partner. He had called the woman after a former lover of his, also a Malaysian, had him from Sarawak to say that she had a good friend who was 'pretty, single and available' who needed a job.
They later communicated through e-mail and text messages. He said that he felt very comfortable with her easy-going attitude. As he was estranged from his wife, he was hoping to start 'a long and lasting relationship' with the woman.
In her testimony in May, the woman admitted she wanted a job here, and thought that if she did not reject Tan outright, it would leave a good impression on him. However, she denied leading him on. She said that she had been traumised by the molest incident and now suffers from nightmares.
Man molests two girls on bike path.(Crime)(Crime: The teens were walking near Barger Avenue when the incident occurred.): An article from: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)
