PUBLISHED ONMarch 27, 2024 5:30 AMByClaudia TanShe allegedly was a victim of molestation, but claims to have been treated like a troublemaker instead.
The woman, Rachel Lim, told AsiaOne on Tuesday (March 26) that she was working at Club Wave at Orchard Road on March 23, having been deployed there for an event for an alcohol brand with another female colleague.
As she was about to leave the club at about 2am, she was approached by a stranger who allegedly touched her inappropriately.
"I asked him why he touched me and demanded him to get out of the club so I could identify him," said the 28-year-old.
"But everyone around was defending him and pulling me away [from him]. One of them said he was drunk."
Amid the kerfuffle, a bouncer allegedly approached Lim and told her: "I really have no choice, the boss asked me to drag you out."
Her colleague was serving another table during this time, and did not see what was going on, Lim explained.
Lim also recounted the ordeal in a Facebook post on Monday (March 25), where she wrote that she felt very helpless in the moment.
"At 153cm and 45kg, it's absurd to think I could cause any harm," she wrote.
After leaving the club, she called the police and waited outside for officers to arrive. She told AsiaOne that she was surrounded by "aggressive" bouncers who were unhappy that she called the police.
"But who is really causing trouble here, their customer or me? Their actions made me doubt myself, as if I had done something wrong," she said in her post.
The bouncers only stopped bothering her when she started filming them, she said.
Lim said that the club's boss, whom she identified as D, also spoke to her, but was dismissive of the incident.
"It's part of club life... You're overreacting." he allegedly told her.
Upset by the boss' blasé attitude, Lim wrote: "Why should we women be expected to endure such treatment simply because of our gender? I demanded him to stop speaking and await the police's arrival."
She also insisted on waiting for the police directly at the club's entrance, despite the bouncers' requests that she wait downstairs.
Unfortunately, when police officers arrived at the club and asked Lim to identify the perpetrator, he was nowhere to be found.
"One of the bouncers and my colleague told me that the perpetrator was the boss' friend, and likely big spender at the club, that's why they had to help him [get away]," Lim told AsiaOne.
"The entire incident was so traumatising. I was molested, blamed for involving the police, treated as if I was the troublemaker for confronting [him] and standing up for myself."
Besides the trauma, Lim said she also suffered some abrasions on her arm.
She told AsiaOne she made a police report.
In response to AsiaOne's queries, the police confirmed that a report was made and investigations are ongoing.
AsiaOne has contacted Club Wave for more information.
claudiatan@asiaone.com