SMU vigilantes ... and how things can go wrong

“Heroism is a badly remunerated occupation, and often it leads to an early end, which is why it appeals to fanatics or persons with an unhealthy fascination with death.” Said as-a-matter-of-factly by the Spanish author Isabel Allende.

See, this is to relate with the SMU vigilantes' activity of catching a pervert who had been harrassing their female friend. A police was called and like what often happens in comics, the culprit was somehow set free.

The media published this outrage story, and stupidly enough reveals the identity of the vigilantes' leader, one George Ng (heck, his photo was even shown in the same article!).

It won't take a fortune teller to predict there will be retaliation against this group of vigilantes.

I wish you luck, SMU vigilantes. While I sincerely admire your act of heroism, I do think the harsher measure of justice can be meted against the asshole, and since he's in the wrong in the first place, you should have been assured that he won't report it.

In any case, wear a mask.

They were enraged that their female friend was getting lewd text messages from a stranger.

So a group of male students from Singapore Management University (SMU) decided to save their damsel in distress.

They set a trap for the man on Wednesday at SMU - and he walked right into it.

The New Paper was alerted to this by SMU student George Ng, 23, who's doing a double major in information systems management and finance.

The Year 2 student said he was "the planner" behind the ambush, which involved about seven other male students.

His female friend who was allegedly being harassed is a fellow Year 2 student in SMU's business school, he said.

Mr Ng said that over the past year or so, his friend had been "stalked" by a man.

She knew neither this man nor how he had got her number, her friends said.

"He was stalking her Facebook, her Twitter account and he was sending her weird, disgusting SMSes," said Mr Ng.

The New Paper was forwarded some of these SMSes, which had the man asking if the woman would have sex with him.

The woman's friends said that the man's SMSes became more frequent, and he also started calling her constantly.

Said one of the friends, who wanted to be known only as Mr Tan, 22: "She called back once and tried to ask the man questions, but he said nothing."

Unable to bear it any longer, the woman, who is in her 20s, finally told her friends about the man a few weeks ago.

That's when their protective instincts kicked in.

Said Mr Tan: "I SMSed the man to stop disturbing my friend, but he persisted."

He and the other male students then decided to "lure the man out", he said.

"We wanted him to stop his nonsense because we wanted to protect our friend."

Using the woman's phone, Mr Tan, Mr Ng and other friends arranged to meet the man on Wednesday at 4pm.

The meeting point was the taxi stand at the SMU business school library.

The man said in an SMS that he would be riding a motorcycle and was coming from Choa Chu Kang. This would be the first time the woman would see the man in person.

When he arrived at about 4.30pm, he SMSed the woman, saying: "I am here. I am wearing a blue polo shirt and uncle shorts."

One of Mr Ng's friends went with one of the woman's female friends to approach the man, while the rest of them headed towards the taxi stand but kept out of view.

The two students asked the man who he was, why he was there and who he was looking for.

"He didn't answer and kept muttering, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry'," said Mr Ng.

One of the observers used the woman's phone to call the man's mobile phone number, and his phone rang.

By then, they were in the man's sight.

Tried to get away

Sensing that something was amiss, he tried to start his motorcycle to get away.

The students then leapt into action.

One of the two students who approached the man took out his keys from the ignition.

Another ran down the road to block his escape route, as the others surrounded the man.

Two of them called the school's security guard and the police for assistance.

Said a 23-year-old student, who wanted to be known only as Mr Lau: "One of us grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"When he realised it was pointless to struggle, he stopped and we just stood around him."

When The New Paper arrived at SMU at 6pm, the girl was seated with three male students behind the library's gantry, which is not accessible to the public.

The man could be seen speaking to the police. He rode off on his motorcycle shortly after The New Paper arrived.

The woman declined to be interviewed.

The police later confirmed that they received a call at about 5.10pm requesting assistance at SMU.

They said that a man in his 50s was interviewed and advised by the police over alleged "unsolicited text messages" sent to a woman in her 20s.

The New Paper understands that the man claimed to be an engineer.

No investigations are ongoing, to the dismay of some of the students.

Said Mr Tan: "I was hoping that further action would be taken, especially since the man may also be soliciting sex from other women that he doesn't know.

"Must we wait for something tragic to happen before action is taken?"

Tried to get away

Sensing that something was amiss, he tried to start his motorcycle to get away.

The students then leapt into action.

One of the two students who approached the man took out his keys from the ignition.

Another ran down the road to block his escape route, as the others surrounded the man.

Two of them called the school's security guard and the police for assistance.

Said a 23-year-old student, who wanted to be known only as Mr Lau: "One of us grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"When he realised it was pointless to struggle, he stopped and we just stood around him."

When The New Paper arrived at SMU at 6pm, the girl was seated with three male students behind the library's gantry, which is not accessible to the public.

The man could be seen speaking to the police. He rode off on his motorcycle shortly after The New Paper arrived.

The woman declined to be interviewed.

The police later confirmed that they received a call at about 5.10pm requesting assistance at SMU.

They said that a man in his 50s was interviewed and advised by the police over alleged "unsolicited text messages" sent to a woman in her 20s.

The New Paper understands that the man claimed to be an engineer.

No investigations are ongoing, to the dismay of some of the students.

Said Mr Tan: "I was hoping that further action would be taken, especially since the man may also be soliciting sex from other women that he doesn't know.

"Must we wait for something tragic to happen before action is taken?"

Deprived him of freedom

"In general, an arrest occurs when an individual is deprived of his or her freedom. By depriving the man of his motorcycle keys and preventing him from leaving until the police arrived, (the students) have essentially deprived him of his freedom, which amounts to an arrest.

"As this particular offence does not allow for private arrest, what they did was wrong under the law," said Mr Seow.

But the other lawyers felt otherwise.

They argued that the main points of the scenario were that the students identified the man and called the police.

Said Mr Amerjeet: "These are what normal citizens ought to do if they suspect a man of criminal activity."

Two of the lawyers added that the students neither beat up the man nor locked him up in a room, which could be construed as wrongful restraint.

Even if they had restrained him, Mr Amerjeet said: "If the police find that what these students were doing was on behalf of their friend and to prevent the man from getting away, it could be argued that they were not wrongfully restraining the man."

Those found guilty of sexual harassment can be fined up to $2,000. Those who insult the modesty of a woman can be jailed up to a year or fined, or both.

From Asiaone, "Man harasses SMU student for a year with SMSes asking for sex".