Jane’s Port

Monday 22Sep08 16:48hrs

What should you do when you encounter with these scumbags?

This is an incident which happens more than 10 years ago when I was about 16 to 17yrs ago. I thought I have long forgotten about it but today I woke up with a bad dream of myself being peeped at while changing clothes in the changing room. It reminded me of the incidents which has been broadcast over the news & all over the newspapers of ladies’ private pictures being captured with camera while changing clothes in shopping mall changing room. These pictures were exposed all over the internet.

I started having flash back of the incident when I personally encountered with a flasher.

Shocked but I reacted in such a way that I believed to have saved myself from further harm. I was a student on the way to school when I was nearly cornered by a flasher who keeps flaunting his private part. I hit him hard with my files & ran to the nearest apartment unit to ask for help to call for police. Gave my statement but this person was never caught.

Ladies what should you do should you encounter with flasher or robber or peeping toms?

Just when you think you are left to fend for yourself, do not worry, all your personal belongings can be your best protection. If you are the type who don’t fancy big handbag, den make sure your keys are in your hands. Point it outwards & if flasher gets too close to you, scratch him anyway you want. If you are carrying those big long umbrellas, use it to attack them. The purpose is not to fight it out with them especially if you encounter with armed robber. The whole purpose is to hurt or injured them so that you can escape & run to get help.

There have been reported incidents of peeping tom in the company toilet where I work. That person is kind of sick by placing a bag with a hole to allow the mobile phone camera to film the entire process of ladies or men going to toilet. This incident was more recent. There were 2 incidents reported when I was still quite new to the company. We have yearly plant shutdown for major facility maintenance. During the shutdown we usually to hire contractors to work on areas that need repair, & very few operator would need to come back other than few areas that need them to work. IT department also have their team back to do maintenance.  What was reported in the company news was that the contractor we hire brought contract workers to do the repair and one of them when to hide in the ladies toilet cubicle to peep at ladies who go to toilet. An operator was shocked to see a peeping tom & screamed for help. Security had the peeping tom napped & reported to police. Since then the company policy tighten, all contractors & vendors have be escorted at all times. My point here is not to scream & do nothing but always remember your safety is more important. Thus while screaming “pervert” or peeping tom, run to get help or report incident to management. Major shopping malls have some form of security camera installed. It can help with police investigation.

Few things to remember if you to travel alone, should you need to return to your place of stay late at night, carrying those long umbrella works better than your foldable ones. They can serve as a weapon to prevent them from coming closer & attack them to escape. Since carrying pepper spray & stunt guns are illegal here, you can DIY one yourself. It’s very easy mix those medicated oil into some water & pour it into those mini spray bottles that you can find in travel shower kit. Carry one with you at all time. If you hate the smell of medicated oil, those dry mist body spray from BodyShop works well too! This is because they contain alcohol & will hurt the attacker when you spray it into their eyes & free yourself from their grip.

Never let these scumbags Scott free as they may return anytime when they find you a easy victim. More ladies may be hurt because of them. Remember safety first, free yourself & get help.

Ps: Above mentioned incidents are first hand accounts of my own personal experience. Some of the suggested tactics are from various source like media, articles read & my personal experiences. Be safe than to be sorry. If you have more suggestions you’ll like to say or any corrections, do feel free drop a few lines in the comment box.