Oil Trader Confesses to Molesting Woman at Nightclub, In Singapore, following an encounter with
a fellow oil trader at an industry event, a man attempted to force alcohol into her mouth at a nightclub.
Despite the woman’s refusal, the man proceeded to slap her buttocks twice later on. German
national Arrica Frank, aged 38, admitted guilt to one charge of outraging the modesty of a
24-year-old Singaporean victim on Wednesday, May 29th. A second similar charge will be
considered during sentencing.
The court was informed that Arrica was introduced to the victim at an industry event for oil traders held
at Synthesis Suntec on the night of April 27th last year.
They exchanged handshakes and brief introductions but had no further interactions during the event itself, the court was told. Arrica consumed alcohol and later joined her peers in extending their social evening at Avenue Lounge, a nightclub. Separately, the victim also arrived at the club around 1 am the following morning. At approximately 1:15 am, Arrica put his arm around the victim and tried to
pour alcohol from a bottle into her mouth, despite her objections.
At about 2.30am, while the victim was speaking to someone else at the nightclub, Arrica walked to
where the woman was standing with her back to him. He slapped her buttocks over her pants without
her consent, on two occasions. The victim felt uncomfortable and violated. Arrica continued trying to
make advances towards her, and she moved away from him and went behind her friends to prevent
Arrica from getting closer to her. Arrica did not admit to committing the offence in a statement to the police in May 2023. He also denied it again in a second statement taken in October 2023.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Suriya Prakash is seeking a one-week jail term for Arrica. He said Arrica made
a conscious decision to walk to the victim and remain near her before molesting her.The offence was
also committed in a nightclub, where the premises are often dimly lit and detection is difficult, he said. There was an increase in molestation at nightspots, with 106 outrage of modesty cases reported at
such places between January 2023 and September 2023 compared with 77 in the same period in
2022.
