A man with a sexual fetish targeted a female passenger with a ponytail on a bus, sat behind her, and cut off two inches of her hair. He placed the hair in a plastic bag, intending to take it home to smell, but was caught on the spot. He was sentenced to two months and two weeks in jail.
The accused, Chou Rui Xiong (26, transliteration), faced four charges, including assault, outrage of modesty, and possession of an offensive weapon. He pleaded guilty to two charges, while the other two were taken into consideration during sentencing, according to Shin Min Daily News.
According to court documents, the incident happened on August 3 this year, when the accused boarded service 185, a double-decker bus, near Dover. While sitting on the upper deck, he noticed a female passenger with a ponytail.
The accused became sexually aroused, sat behind the passenger, and then took a pair of scissors from his bag to cut off two inches of her hair. He put the hair in a plastic bag, intending to smell it later. The female passenger soon touched her ponytail and realised something was wrong. She turned around to question him, but he remained silent.
The woman reported the incident to the bus captain. Police arrived after receiving the report and arrested the accused. During investigations, he admitted that he liked women with long hair, and revealed that cutting off women’s hair and smelling it made him feel “sexually aroused.”
Two other victims
The day before the incident, the accused had also cut the hair of two other women on two separate buses. Police later found five pairs of scissors and plastic bags containing hair in his bag.
The prosecution said in court that the accused had previous convictions. In 2020, he was sentenced to 21 months’ probation for theft and assault with outrage of modesty. Considering his early plea of guilt along with aggravating and mitigating factors, the prosecution sought a jail term of two and a half months.
The accused did not hire a lawyer. On Thursday (September 11) afternoon, he pleaded guilty via video link. When asked if he had any mitigation, he said he had a follow-up appointment at the Institute of Mental Health next week and hoped for a lighter sentence. The judge instructed him to inform prison staff about his appointment.
