Drunk S’pore Lawyer Molests 3 Women In Bar; Gets Fined $15,000

As a person who doesn’t particularly like alcohol-

Dammit. At least hear me out before you chew me for not liking alcohol. It’s the reason why my cover story for not drinking alcohol is that I have a history of beating my family up after just a couple of drinks.

Cause apparently not liking the taste of a hospital flavoured beverage that has drug-like effects is something to be questioned in today’s society.

Well, today’s case gave me another excuse: that I will go around molesting people and look down on others.

Which is what this drunk lawyer did.

Molesting Spree After Drinking

On 16 May 2018, Devandran Karunakaran, back then a managing partner of law firm Ince Singapore, drank alcohol with two clients at Asia Square.

He then went to an unnamed bar (for victim protection and all) to continue drinking.

Around 11pm, Karunakaran then moved to a Ms H, 48, who was a regular patron at the bar and by herself.

He approached her from behind and stroke her back and waist.

Which sounds like it’s possible that he may have recognised the wrong person, until you read that court documents state he did this three times.

Ms H moved away and shouted “Don’t touch me!”, which is when Karunakaran realised he was in the wrong, said sorry and went back home.

Just kidding. He muttered incoherently and then walked to the upper level to continue his spree.

Molesting Another Two

Ms P, 28, and Ms K, 30, are friends. Ms P was a DJ working at that bar that night, and they were near the makeshift DJ stand.

Approximately 30 minutes after the previous molestation, Karunakaran approached both of them and stood between them.

One arm on Ms P’s shoulder, and the other hand on Ms K’s waist, he then said: “Hey! What’s up?”

What’s up is definitely not their night, cause Ms P tried to shrug his arm off.

Which for some reason didn’t signal as a “no” to him, since he stroked her body from shoulder to waist, and then used his other hand to stroke Ms K’s body from waist to butt.

They were both wearing crop tops, so this meant skin-to-skin contact.

So Ms P moved aside, pushed his arm away, removed her DJ headset and then walked off.

Ms K waved at a bar employee for help, who then tried to tell Karunakaran that his behaviour is unacceptable and to leave the DJ stand.

But if you know where we’re heading with this, then you’d correctly guess that Karunakaran ignored the employee and instead tried to talk to Ms K, while trying to pull her towards him.

In response, Ms K pushed him.

Threatened To Make The Manager Lose His Job

The employee then escorted him away and told the bartender to inform the bar manager, Mr D, of what’s happening.

Mr D was then told by Ms H that Karunakaran that molested her three times and confronted Karunakaran.

Karunakaran’s reply? “F*** you mate, who is the one who say I touched her?”

When asked to calm down, he maintained that he didn’t do anything and said: “What are you going to do?”

He also refused to leave upon Mr D’s advice to finish his drinks and leave the bar.

Karunakaran also said he would not leave when Mr D advised him to finish his drinks and leave the bar.

And then asked if Mr D knew who he was, threatened to make Mr D lose his job, and said he was a lawyer.

Karunakaran was then escorted out of the bar by Mr D with the help of a security officer, all the while saying “F*** you mate” at least 10 times and insisting on returning to drink some more.

At 12.20am, the police arrived and arrested him later at 1.51am.

Sentenced To A Fine OF S$15,000

On 19 Nov 2019, he was sentenced to a fine of S$15,000, pleading guilty to three molestation charges and causing distress to the bar manager. Another three charges were also considered.

Each molestation charge could have been jail for up to two years, fine, caning or the three in any combination.

For threatening with the intent to cause distress, it could have been a fine of up to S$5,000 jail of up to six months, or both.

Lawyer Sacked From Law Firm

In an update on the case, Karunakaran has been sacked by his law firm, Ince Singapore.

A spokesperson for the law firm said:

“Following the Singapore Court’s decision, Devandran Karunakaran’s position at Ince has been terminated with immediate effect and he no longer works at the firm. We take the behaviour and ethical conduct of all of the Group’s Partners and staff extremely seriously.”

11.9% Increase In Outrage Of Modesty Cases From 2017 to 2018

If you’re always wondering why there’s so much more molestation nowadays, it’s not just your imagination.

The prosecutor in the case had argued for Karunakaran to be sentenced to prison as a deterrent to potential offenders.

He then cited a police report from February 2019 to show that outrage of modesty cases remained a “key concern”.

“From 2017 to 2018, there had been an increase of 11.9% in total outrage of modesty cases, and an increase of 34.3% of outrage of modesty cases at nightspots.”

So I guess, it’s not just my editor’s bias in always selecting molestation cases to be written.