SINGAPORE – A driver offering illegal ride hailing services was ferrying a 19-year-old girl in a car in December 2021 when he repeatedly molested her.

Two years later, Muhammad Shaharudin Abdul Wahid told a 16-year-old passenger that she need not pay the $15 fare if she performed a sexual act on him. She complied when the car stopped at a traffic light.

On May 7, Shaharudin, 29, was sentenced to 16 months’ jail and ordered to receive two strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to three molestation charges.

They involved the older girl, who was identified in court documents as V1.

He admitted that he had obtained the sexual services of the younger girl, V2, who was then a minor below 18 years old.

V1 was in Bedok at around 6.30pm on Dec 9, 2021, when she requested a ride to Bugis Junction to meet a friend on messaging platform Telegram’s “SG Bike Hitch” group chat.

She offered to pay $15 for the ride and Shaharudin responded to her request. He arrived around 20 minutes later and the teenager sat in the front passenger seat.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jocelyn Teo told the court: “During the journey, the accused asked V1 if she was open-minded and about her sexual experience, how many ex-boyfriends she had, and asked if she was a virgin.

“V1 told him that she was not a virgin, but that she did not want to go into details about her sexual experiences.”

The vehicle was near Bugis Junction when Shaharudin molested her. At around 7.15pm, he suggested that they “stop somewhere else” but V1 refused and told him to go to the mall’s drop-off point.

But he drove towards Geylang instead, and finally turned back when she insisted on going to Bugis Junction.

The vehicle was at a traffic light when he exposed himself and molested her again. She paid him $15 and alighted when they reached the mall at around 7.20pm.

DPP Teo said: “When V1 met her friend at 7.30pm, she was still in a state of shock and broke down. She told her friend what had happened, and her friend advised her to lodge a police report.”

V1 did so the next day, but court documents did not disclose what happened next.

Shaharudin struck again in March 2023 when he responded on the Telegram Bike Hitch group chat to V2’s request for a ride.

She had offered to pay $15 as the fare and was wearing her uniform when he picked her up at her school. The girl was about to sit in the rear passenger seat when Shaharudin, who did not ask for her age, told her to sit beside him instead.

During the journey to Marsiling, he told her that she did not need to pay if she performed a sexual act on him, and she complied.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has warned commuters against engaging the services of drivers offering illegal ride hailing services.

For commuters’ own safety, those who wish to book point-to-point transport services, including commercial carpooling services, are encouraged to do so via licensed business platforms.

LTA said: “We will continue to monitor and take enforcement action against those providing illegal carpooling and carpooling matching services.”

Clarification note: An earlier version of the story said the offender was a private-hire driver. The LTA has clarified that he was not a private hire driver and does not hold a vocational licence.