Gan Thean Soo (L) pleaded guilty to assaulting American Joseph DeMarini. | Photo: Facebook/Joe DeMarini
A 71-year-old man has admitted to sexually harassing and slapping another man on Singapore’s MRT train service.
Gan Thean Soo was headed home from drink in Chinatown when he spotted 25-year-old American, Joseph DeMarini.
Gan approached DeMarini who was with a female friend, Li Zixin, and began aggressively propositioning DeMarini.
Li began filming Gan after he asked the older man to leave him alone.
‘I want you to fuck me tonight,’ Soo said to him.
Gan insisted DeMarini identified as LGBT even the American denied it. The older man was convinced DeMarini ‘signalled’ to him that he was also gay.
‘I am LGBT, you are gay,’ Gan said.
Another woman then stepped in to try and calm the situation, but a clearly drunk Gan got more upset.
He then leant over and slapped DeMarini in the face and at that point more train commuters got involved to restrain Gan. The elderly man told the commuters he had ‘drank a lot’ before getting on the train.
Gan appeared in a Singapore court and plead guilty to one count each of assault and harassment. The court is still considering a charge of public nuisance.
Gan was released on S$8,000 (US$6,073) bail. If convicted he faces a two year jail term and a S$5,000 fine (US$3,799).
Homosexual sex is illegal in the conservative Singapore. Last year, the government banned foreign companies from donating to the annual Pride event, Pink Dot SG. Only Singapore nationals and permanent residents were allowed to attend the event, but they turned up in their thousands.
‘I don’t fit the masculine mold
DeMarini shared the video of the incident on Facebook, which has had more than 1.5 million views since the 19 April incident.
The American said he was very shocked at what happened, but said it was not unusual for people to think he identifies as LGBT.
‘For those of you that don’t know: I’m not gay (not that it should matter),’ DeMarini wrote.
‘However, I don’t exactly fit the “masculine” mold of society, so oftentimes I am mistaken as queer–on several occasions around the world, for example, I’ve caught flak for carrying a “man purse.’
DeMarini said he felt ‘pretty awful about this’ and that he wished he remembered to thank the commuters who stepped in to protect him.
