House arrest for ex-Bell tech who exposing himself to client

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Traumatizing a customer in her home by emerging from the bathroom and leaving his genitals hanging out — for 20 minutes — has netted a former Bell technician with just a 90-day sentence to be served in the comfort of his home.

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But it could have been even more outrageous.

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Following a judge-alone trial where he was convicted of committing an indecent act with the intent to insult or offend, Samarpreet Singh, who came from India on a student visa with the hope of bringing his family here, asked for a conditional discharge so he won’t be deported.

At least that was far too lenient a sentence for Ontario Court Justice Sean Gaudet.

“A discharge allows for an offender to avoid a criminal conviction,” he wrote in a decision released last month. “Future employers of Mr. Singh should be aware that he committed this offence in the course of his employment. A custodial sentence is required.”

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On Dec. 9, 2023, court heard, a woman was alone in her new basement apartment when Singh, 22, arrived to install her Wi-Fi router. He had a lot more to show her than just how to connect to the internet.

“After using the victim’s bathroom, Mr. Singh came out with his pants unzippered and his un-erect penis exposed to the victim,” Gaudet wrote. “He left his penis out of his pants for a period of some 20 minutes.  During this time he made inappropriate comments to the victim about her physical attractiveness and asked her untoward questions about her dating status.”

In her victim impact statement, the traumatized woman said she still feels “tethered” to the incident and can’t move past it. She’s shut herself off from other people and experiences anxiety going to the gym or running outside. “She has stopped caring about her physical appearance because she does not want to attract attention.”

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The Crown wanted Singh in prison for 60 days followed by a year’s probation. The defence requested the conditional discharge to spare him immigration consequences from a criminal record.

The judge found a number of aggravating factors that led to his decision to deny the conditional discharge — the first being that the crime took place in the woman’s home where she had a right to feel safe and secure from harm. “I note that the victim had just recently moved into this residence and that after the offence took place she moved away because she was afraid that Mr. Singh would return.”

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Court heard the indecent exposure lasted for 20 minutes. “This was not a momentary event.”

Gaudet also noted that this was hardly an accident where he somehow forgot to tuck himself back into his pants. Singh acted “deliberately with the intent to offend her” and abused his position of trust. “She invited him into her home, where she should feel most secure, because she needed him to provide this essential service and he abused his position and treated her like a sexualized object in her own home,” the judge said.

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“The sense of security people feel when in their own home is a highly cherished value in our society. Mr. Singh took this away from her and she is still experiencing a profound sense of social anxiety and insecurity because of his actions.”

So a conditional discharge wasn’t going to fly. But neither would prison.

Gaudet found Singh was a youthful first offender who won’t pose a danger to the community if allowed to serve his 90 days under house arrest, followed by a year’s probation.

It sure sounds like easy time. The good news for the rest of us is that after his sentence is served, this pervert will hopefully be booked on the next plane back to India.

mmandel@postmedia.com

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