When one 17-year-old male responded to an online listing on Gumtree asking for participants to take part in a “body stimulation” research project, the experience turned out to be nothing like what he’d imagined. The ad, posted by an NTU graduate student, was looking for paid volunteers to assist in the research study, which would include “light sensation touches.”
But it resulted in the arrest of a 25-year-old postgraduate student for reportedly molesting his 17-year-old victim. He has been arrested for on “outrage of modesty” charges, the police said on Saturday. The suspect is believed to be a Singaporean, Channel NewsAsia noted.
News of the alleged incident, which occurred at around 8pm on Nov. 13, first surfaced on a report by NTU’s campus newspaper, The Nanyang Chronicle, which revealed that the victim was taken into a graduate dormitory room, where he was told to take off his clothes.
The 17-year-old told The Straits Times that he had no idea the “study” was being held in a student dormitory, but since he’d already spent S$16 on an Uber ride from his Yishun home, he decided to go ahead with the project, even though he felt something might be wrong.
“I needed the money, and it was fast cash,” he said.
In the dorm room, the teenager was blindfolded, tied to a bed while naked, and tickled for an hour. He also alleged that he was later molested and paid S$55 to masturbate. The suspect said that he’d done the same thing with another participant.
The victim, who claimed he agreed to the suspect’s requests because he was afraid as the man was a “big guy,” filed a police report the next day.
TODAY noted that the ad, which has since been removed, was also posted on other classified sites like Craigslist. It offered to pay male participants S$25 an hour, while participants under 16 would received an additional S$10 per hour.
But NTU said that there was no such research project involving “body stimulation.”
“There is no such scientific or scholarly research project that has been undertaken. Any research involving human participants must be submitted to the Institutional Review Board for review and approval,” said the spokesperson.
According to ST, the victim decided to speak up to warn others against making the same mistake.
“Honestly, it’s partly my fault for being so naive. It was my first time (participating in a study) and I thought since the student was from NTU, it was legitimate and nothing could go wrong,” he explained. “I wouldn’t say I’m not angry at him [for what he did], but we all make mistakes at some point of our lives. We both lost something here… I just hope he will learn something from this.”
denimhair@gmail.com says
It is sad that there is no outrage for this sexual harassment news where the victim is male. I felt the need to comment because in closing, the victim blamed himself for being naive. I would like to tell him and all male victims of sexual harassment, IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT! Naive or not, no one has the right to take advantage of anyone or make anyone do something a victim doesn’t want to.