Taxi driver on trial says he was just giving out relationship advice
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — A 66-year-old taxi driver accused of insulting the modesty of a female passenger by making a lewd comment to her said he was dispensing advice and had used the words “oral sex” when he was recounting a conversation he had heard from previous passengers.
Taking the stand for the first time on the third day of his trial, Ong Guan Seow also fired back at his accuser, saying she had tried to ensnare him for extortion purposes.
Ong is accused of uttering another obscene phrase to the woman, who was 20 when the incident took place at around 11.35pm on Feb 7 last year.
During his three hours of testifying, Ong recounted how he picked up the woman and a male friend that night. After the man alighted at an army camp at Old Choa Chu Kang Road, the woman said she wanted to go to Sembawang.
Speaking through a Mandarin translator, Ong claimed that the pair were “hugging in an intimate manner” in his taxi.
When they were alone, the woman told him that her companion was her former boyfriend who had introduced her to another man.
She told Ong that eight months into the relationship, the new beau wanted to end things, so she approached her former boyfriend for help earlier that day.
“I had the impression that she was a two-timer,” said Ong. “I asked her why she was not concerned about her dignity or virginity when she was an educated person.”
According to Ong, the victim said: “Uncle, what am I supposed to do now?”
Ong told the court he decided to tell her two stories he had come across while driving as advice. One of these involved a Chinese national who caught her partner cheating.
“I told (the victim) to go to the Internet to search for (the term ‘oral sex’) as that was what had been told to me by that China woman,” said Ong.
After this exchange, the male friend, who had alighted earlier, spoke to Ong over speakerphone and accused him of trying to hit on the victim.
Ong countered by asking if the woman and her male friend were trying to extort from him, and drove her to a police station in Yishun.
“The moment I stopped, she opened the left rear door of the taxi and ran very quickly. I alighted and shouted very loudly, ‘You can’t run away. Both of you tried to extort (from) me ... you had better run back quickly’,” said Ong.
He said the victim returned and threw a S$50 bill into his taxi and started crying at this point. Two officers then came out from the police station and told Ong to shift his taxi.
“I told (one of them) that (the victim and her male friend) wanted to extort (from) me by setting a trap using a woman as a bait,” said Ong.
Later, the woman’s parents came to the station and her mother exchanged words with Ong.
The trial, which started in March this year, resumes on Wednesday with Ong continuing his testimony.
