Man Used Telegram to Provide Carpool Services But Molested His Passengers Instead

Licensed private-hire car services may be exorbitant at times…

But they are, for the most part, ‘safer’ than their unregulated counterparts.

This is due to the security and accountability provided by the former, which the latter conspicuously lacks.

And though savings may be of the utmost importance to some, to the point where the aforementioned traits can be dismissed in favour of reduced expenses…

Sometimes, there’s nothing more valuable, or precious, than the safety aspect itself.

Man Used Telegram to Provide Carpool Services But Molested His Passengers Instead

Muhammad Hafiz Maksah has been convicted of molesting women – under the pretext of giving them a ride.

The 27-year-old has since been given an imprisonment sentence lasting five years and 10 months, and will receive six strokes of the cane for his crimes.

The verdict was delivered on Wednesday (23 December 2020).

Hafiz had been suspended from driving for Grab – though the reason wasn’t specified.

He then turned to unregulated carpooling chat groups for jobs, which would in turn become a platform for him not to earn an illegal income but to satiate his lust for women.

In October 2019, Hafiz took up a request in chat group Ride Kakis (NTU), and proceeded to pick up the passenger – a student known only as JC.

Instead of driving her to a church as requested, he took advantage of the fact that she was asleep and headed to a multi-storey car park.

The victim woke up halfway and questioned him about the detour. In response, he said that he needed to pick something up.

Hafiz went on to park in a corner of the car park, and began molesting her.

Thankfully, the victim managed to squeeze out of the car and escape.

On 12 October 2019, Hafiz struck again, this time preying on another student who had taken his car before.

Stating he had to return his friend’s keys first, he drove to a multi-storey car park, where they waited for around an hour.

At that point, Hafiz suggested that they play a card game – with the loser required to do five forfeits.

After the victim expressed her refusal to do anymore after the first two, which comprised sending messages to people and singing a song, he reportedly grabbed her arm and told her that the third forfeit was to kiss him on the lips.

When she refused and tried to escape, he locked the car doors and started pinning her down.

“I just want to have sex with you,” he reportedly said.

That escalated quickly

Eventually, he asked her to lick his toes to clear the forfeits.

When it was done, he drove her home, three hours after he first picked her up.

In March 2020, the offender picked up yet another student through the Telegram chat group SG Hitch – Premium.

Instead of driving to her home, however, he started to head off towards Sembawang.

When questioned, he claimed that he was picking up another passenger.

At around 1:35 a.m., he reached Jalan Selimang in Sembawang, near a forested area.

At this point, the victim began to panic, and shared her live location with her friends.

After smoking, the offender drove to a nearby junction, where he proceeded to “wait” for another passenger.

He then molested the student’s buttocks when she was switching seats.

When she requested him to drive to the main road so that she could procure a Grab ride home, he reportedly refused, claiming that he was “lazy” and “tired”.

He only complied when two auxiliary police vehicles drove past, which caused him to panic.

The offender proceeded to drive towards the main road, where the victim alighted.

All three victims have consequently reportedly expressed a fear of taking cabs alone.

Security And Accountability

In court, the prosecution asked for 5 years and 10 months’ jail, as well as six strokes of the cane.

He also called Hafiz “a serial offender” and “a clear danger to the public”.

“It is in the public interest that the accused be dealt with in a harsh manner,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Thiagesh Sukumaran.

Apparently, Hafiz also molested a fourth victim – an offence that was taken under consideration.

The prosecution also explained how regulated private-hire car services may differ from their unlicensed counterparts, and how criminals may take advantage of the latter’s discretion.

“There is a stark difference between the security and accountability provided by a licensed private-hire car service, as opposed to an unregulated private-hire car service,” he said.

“For example, Grab conducts vigorous driver background checks, requires all drivers to authenticate and verify their identity at least once a day, and provides functions on their app for passengers to share their locations, trip details and notify their contacts in case of an emergency.”

As for the present case, it “clearly demonstrates that unregulated private-hire car platforms can be abused by drivers with nefarious intentions because of the sheer lack of accountability”.

Earlier Revelation

The case was first unveiled to the public on October 21, 2019 – via an anonymous entry on the NTU Confessions Facebook Page.

In the post, the woman professed that she had been molested by a driver who used Ride Kakis, a peer-to-peer ridesharing platform primarily used by Nanyang Technological University students.

The Telegram channel was subsequently suspended till further notice.

It has yet to resume operations, one year after the incident first broke out.

Featured Image: Allmy / Shutterstock.com