0 Engagements
Trapped in a car with a sexual predator, a woman became so distressed she cut and burned herself. She also submitted to his demand of sucking his toes in the hope of escaping his clutches.
Yesterday, Muhammad Hafiz Maksah, 27, dubbed a clear danger to the public by the prosecution, was jailed for five years and 10 months and given six strokes of the cane.
He pleaded guilty via video-link yesterday to three molest charges involving three victims. Another charge linked to a fourth victim and one count of criminal intimidation were taken into consideration.
The former Grab driver made use of unregulated private-hire car services to look for victims and violated them at secluded spots.
Calling for a deterrent sentence for Hafiz yesterday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Thiagesh Sukumaran noted the consistent number of molest complaints against private-hire drivers in recent years - 17 each in 2017 and 2018 and 15 last year.
Pointing out the greater potential for abuse in unregulated services, he said they have no systems of accountability, such as location tracking systems or driver histories, and largely function on a system of trust . The present case clearly demonstrates that unregulated private-hire car platforms can be abused by drivers with nefarious intentions because of the sheer lack of accountability.
Mr Saktiandi said he hopes to see enhanced security features for all drivers in the system.