Indian to be jailed, caned after molesting wife’s nurse

A 47-year-old Indian national was handed a seven-year prison term and three strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to molesting and insulting the modesty of a 25-year-old Singaporean woman who was looking after his cancer-stricken wife last December.

Pillai Shyam Kumar Sadashivan, a businessman who ran a steel-trading company in Dubai, had hired a professional nurse to reside in an apartment near Kent Ridge Park in Singapore to look after his wife, who was ill with cancer, The Straits Times reported.

At 9am on December 14, 2016, the third workday of the private nurse, Sadashivan had a conversation with her in the living room. His wife, meanwhile, was still sleeping in the bedroom.

The conversation centered on Sadashivan’s desire to have his sexual impulses gratified by the nurse, as he admitted to her that he had not have sexual intercourse with his sick wife for the past few months.

The nurse rejected him right away, stating clearly that she as a professional nurse would not do such things. Yet Sadashivan ordered the nurse to lift her top, and then he molested her because she declined to comply.

The nurse stayed around that day and returned to the apartment the following day because she was truly worried about the sick woman. Shortly afterward, however, she quit the job and filed a complaint with the police.

According to a counseling report dated on February 21 this year, the nurse suffered symptoms of depression and had flashbacks of the incident. She was unable to return to her profession for a while.

District Judge Mathew Joseph slammed the defendant, calling his actions “abhorrent and repugnant”.

Sadashivan is now on S$15,000 (US$11,075) bail and must begin serving his sentence at the State Courts next Monday.