The Straits Times, March 9, 2010
By Selina Lum & Sujin Thomas
He gets 25 years' jail and 24 strokes for tying her up for six hours, raping her in her bed
FOR six hours, a 27-year-old man tormented the mother of his former girlfriend whom he had bound and gagged.
He finished by raping her in her bed, and helped himself to $100 from her wallet and her cellphone before leaving the scene.
The fast-food delivery man was yesterday jailed for 25 years and ordered to be given the maximum 24 strokes of the cane, following Deputy Public Prosecutor Chua Ying-hong's argument for the 'harshest punishment' for his relentless attacks on the 48-year-old divorcee.
Ms Chua told the High Court: 'The accused had callously violated the sanctity of the victim's body and home, immobilising her for an extended period of almost six hours, during which he treated her as his personal sex slave.'
The man cannot be named because the court has barred the publication of any information that may identify the victim.
The court heard that he had already broken up with the victim's daughter, but had continued visiting her and her mother.
In the early hours of April 4 last year, he let himself into the flat, using the keys he had stolen from the premises five months earlier.
Knowing his former girlfriend to be out that night, he entered the flat at about 1am, wearing gloves and a T-shirt over his head to hide his face.
He made his way to the older woman's room, where he bound and gagged her with masking tape. He tied her arms to the bedpost and tried to rape her, but was unsuccessful despite several attempts.
The daughter returned at 4am and headed straight to her bedroom, oblivious to what was happening to her mother.
The man fondled and then raped the woman, who made repeated pleas to go to the toilet throughout her ordeal.
He eventually left at 7am with her money and her cellphone, leaving her tied up. She freed herself an hour later.
The man was arrested almost three weeks later, following police investigations.
His DNA matched that of the semen he left on the woman's body and clothes.
In court yesterday, the man, who did not have a lawyer, pleaded for leniency through a Malay interpreter, saying he had an aged mother and a seven- month-old child to support. He is not married.
In sentencing him yesterday on four charges, including aggravated rape and housebreaking, Justice Chan Seng Onn noted that the offences were pre-meditated.
'You terrorised the victim for a prolonged period of some six hours,' said the judge.
The woman declined to be interviewed yesterday, but her daughter, aged 25, said she rued the day she met the man in 2000.
She said they broke up after a short while, but could not recall exactly when.
He had once showered concern on her and her mother, and would at times bring them food.
But those days are long gone.
The daughter said: 'My mum wonders how he had the cheek to plan and do something like this.'
She added that what galls her was how the man's current girlfriend called her repeatedly after his arrest to persuade her to put in a good word for him and 'reduce' his punishment.
'Some people can change but he is one of those who cannot,' said the daughter.
Her mother has since returned to work and their lives have resumed a semblance of normalcy.
The daughter said: 'Her life has gone back to normal.
'But it's not easy to forgive and forget.'
No comments:
Post a Comment