Mr Raymond Lye's client, 29-year-old Indian national Valluru Krishna, had grabbed the breasts of a 25-year-old woman at the void deck of a block of flats on the night of Jan 30.

Valluru was fined $4,500 by a district court in May but the prosecution appealed to the High Court to jail him for at least nine months and order caning.

This is a standard sentence that has been handed down to molesters who violate their victims' private parts - including breasts - since former chief justice Yong Pung How set the benchmark.

But yesterday, Mr Lye cited dictionary definitions to argue that breasts are not considered private parts. In other words, his client's crime was not so serious that it fell into this category of cases which warranted the benchmark sentence.

He urged the court to relook the benchmark for cases involving contact with the breasts.

The punishment, he suggested, should range from a fine, for 'fleeting contact over a fully clothed woman', to a short jail term for serious cases, such as where threats are used.

Mr Lye said his client's case only deserved a high fine. He also urged the court to consider - as a last resort - just a short jail term.

Justice Tay Yong Kwang, after hearing the appeal, substituted the $4,500 fine with a three-month jail term.

But he did not make a ruling with regard to Mr Lye's arguments on the definition of private parts.

The judge did tell Mr Lye, however, that the courts make a distinction between the breasts and the reproductive organs. The courts also take into account the duration and degree of contact, he said.

In 1994, then-CJ Yong set the standard sentence for molestation cases in which a woman's 'private parts or sexual organs' had been intruded.

In 1995, he held that a woman's breasts were considered a private part.

Yesterday, the benchmark was cited by Deputy Public Prosecutor April Phang in arguing that Valluru's punishment was too light.

She argued that the district judge had failed to consider that the sentencing tariff for such cases is nine months' jail and three strokes of the cane.

Fines have been imposed only for minor acts of molestation, such as the caressing of a thigh, she said.

But Mr Lye countered that contact with the breasts should not be treated as seriously as that with the genitals.

selinal@sph.com.sg

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