19-7-2023 (SINGAPORE) A Singaporean man has been sentenced to 12 years in jail and six strokes of the cane for the rape and assault of his teenage fiancée. The man, who cannot be named due to a court-imposed gag order, was 21 years old at the time of the assault in June 2021.
The court heard that the offender and the victim were in a “de facto spousal relationship” from 2016, with the intention to marry when the girl turned 18. The couple had underage sex when the girl was 12, and she gave birth to their daughter at 13.
In May 2021, the victim, then 17, initiated a break-up with her fiancé and moved out suddenly. The offender heard from a friend that the victim was meeting a male friend at a playground, and he went down to the location early on June 1, 2021.
Enraged to see the victim hugging and holding hands with the other boy, the offender assaulted her and drove her to a secluded road where he raped and attacked her. He pleaded guilty to six charges, including rape, wrongful confinement, and voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon.
In sentencing, Justice Dedar Singh Gill acknowledged the loving nature of the offender’s family, but said it provided no mitigating value to his culpability. He stated that the offender had “engaged in very violent offending” after he was enraged that the victim had left him for another man.
The offender’s family, including his parents and daughter, attended the hearing via Zoom from their home. After the sentence was passed, they waved to the offender, who waved back on the screen.
