Man Allegedly Masturbated to Sleeping Woman in Bus & No One Stopped Him

Last Updated on 2023-05-05 , 3:40 pm

A Facebook user named Chun Yi has uploaded a post that has since been shared over 1,400 times, detailing her encounter with a man masturbating to a sleeping woman on a bus. 

According to Chun Yi, the man appeared to be an elderly uncle. She captured photos and videos of him leaving the bus after the incident. 

Chun Yi’s post was shared on a Facebook group dedicated to life in Singapore and Malaysia. In her caption in Mandarin, she warned readers of the traumatic incident and urged them to be vigilant and cautious while travelling on buses in Singapore. 

She has since provided an update stating that she had reported the incident to the police.

She Was Asleep on the Upper Deck of the Bus

As per Chun Yi’s post, she had dozed off on the upper deck of a double-decker bus and was unaware of the man’s presence initially. 

After approximately 30 minutes of sleep, she was disturbed by a persistent jingling sound similar to a keychain and noted a separate noise similar to a zipper being opened and closed. 

As she saw the man carrying a bag with keychains hanging on the zips, she initially assumed that the noise was caused by the man searching through his belongings.

She was slightly annoyed by the noise but eventually drifted off to sleep again without paying much attention to his actions.

However, when the sound woke her up for the second time, she became curious about the man’s actions and opened her eyes to observe the man before falling back asleep again, still not suspecting anything.

Boyfriend’s Previous Warnings Alerted Her

Despite several attempts to return to sleep, the man’s noises became increasingly loud and disruptive, causing Chun Yi to recall a story her boyfriend told her about men masturbating on buses to unsuspecting female passengers. 

This realisation jolted her awake, and upon glancing at the man, she could see that he was not “searching for his belongings” but seemed to be fidgeting uncontrollably and was moaning loudly. 

Given how obvious and loud he was, she was shocked that no one else noticed his indecent behaviour on the bus. 

After realising the situation, Chun Yi could no longer fall asleep and instead used her phone and earphones to distract herself from the man’s actions. 

The man eventually stopped and made one final moan after noticing she was awake. However, he reportedly continued to touch himself slowly after some time. 

Feeling uncomfortable and quite traumatised by what she witnessed, Chun Yi moved to the lower deck of the bus, and the man followed her down before getting off at the next stop. 

While she did not capture footage of the man committing the indecent act, she did manage to take a photo and video of him alighting from the bus.

Not the First Case of Public Indecency 

The number of public indecency cases, which involve offences such as nudity, indecent exposure, obscene acts, or sexual exposure, has increased over the years, with 348 cases recorded in 2020 alone. 

Meanwhile, Chun Yi’s post about her experience has received over 900 comments from people who have allegedly witnessed or experienced similar incidents.

One top comment shared a similar scenario where the netizen allegedly witnessed a man molesting a girl on bus service 133. 

According to him, the perpetrator appeared to be looking for a target upon boarding and happened to notice a sleeping girl on the bus. The perpetrator touched her thighs, causing her to wake up and scream, which prompted him to run to the upper floor. 

The girl reported the incident to the bus driver, who pulled the bus aside to look for witnesses. However, the victim allegedly dropped the case when the netizen volunteered as a witness, fearing that making a police report would cause too much trouble.

In another incident, a female passenger and her sisters witnessed a man masturbating to them on bus 225G on 29 March 2022. 

The perpetrator had put his hand in his pants and started masturbating while sitting across from them. They approached the bus captain for help and were able to alight the bus unharmed. 

Unlike the victim mentioned in the netizen’s story, they made reports to the police and asked people to help identify the man should they come across him.

Viewers Encouraged For Action to Be Taken

Netizens under the post commented that Chun Yi should have reported the incident to the police or the bus captain. 

A Facebook user even commented that her friend had allegedly caught the same man in the act and had footage of the incident. 

Attaching a screenshot of the Instagram story taken by her friend; she even offered to send the footage to Chun Yi to assist her in making a police report.

Just like Chun Yi, who was perhaps too shocked at the time of the incident to react appropriately by reporting the man, the Facebook user’s friend seemed to be at a loss at how to deal with the situation. 

According to their Instagram story, the friend witnessed the man looking at another female passenger while masturbating to the reported victim but was too afraid to confront him about his actions. 

A report by the National Library of Medicine stated that feelings of guilt and embarrassment were among several reasons for adult women not reporting cases of sexual harassment or assault.

In a follow-up comment, Chun Yi has since encouraged female passengers to seek help from the bus captains if they ever encounter similar incidents.

She emphasised that the bus captains would lock the bus doors until the police arrive once such incidents are reported.

Chun Yi has also updated her post, stating that she has made a police report.

Consequences of Voyeurism and Public Indecency in Singapore

Voyeurism is defined as a sexual interest in or the act of observing people engaging in private or intimate behaviours, such as undressing, sexual acts, urinating, or defecating. 

The man in the video can be seen exhibiting voyeuristic behaviour. 

According to a report, his actions could be categorised as one of the various non-contact sex offences, including public masturbation and sexual harassment.

Under section 377BB of the Penal Code, acts of voyeurism in Singapore, such as intentionally observing a victim during a private act, using equipment to spy on a victim during a private act, recording a victim during a private act, operating equipment to observe a victim’s private parts or recording an image of the victim’s private parts, are all considered criminal offences. 

Offenders found guilty of voyeurism can face a jail term of up to two years, a fine, caning, or a combination of these penalties. If the victim is under 14, two years of imprisonment is mandatory, and the offender may also be fined or caned.

If the man in the video were to be charged, he could be convicted under section 294 of the Penal Code for an obscene act in a public place, which is punishable by imprisonment for up to three months, a fine, or both. 

While this does not fall under the definition of voyeurism in Singapore, it is still a criminal offence.