A HIGH Court judge yesterday sentenced five youths to jail and
caning for sexually assaulting a teenager two years ago and told
them to count themselves lucky the prosecution had been so generous
with them.
Justice Chan Seng Onn said what he saw was 'factually rape',
which carries a maximum punishment of 20 years in jail.
Instead, the five pleaded guilty last month to charges of
aggravated outrage of modesty, after the initial charge of rape had
been reduced.
It is unclear why the charge was reduced, but this happened
after the victim had given her testimony behind closed doors.
Justice Chan said: 'This is the first time I have come across a
case (of aggravated outrage of modesty) where the agreed facts of
the case the accused admitted to could have fitted penile
penetration without consent.'
If not for their ages, he would have set their sentences closer
to the maximum punishment of 10 years, he said, adding grimly: 'The
accused persons should count themselves very lucky.'
In the end, he sentenced Lim Boon Tai, 21, a part-time worker,
to five years in jail and eight strokes of the cane. He was deemed
by the prosecution to be the most culpable of the lot.
Mohamed Firdaus Roslan, 19, a polytechnic dropout, received the
next harshest sentence with 41/2 years in jail and five strokes of
the cane.
Rishi Mohan, 18, the only one who did not face a rape charge at
first, was jailed for four years and will get five strokes.
Muhammad Shafie Ahmad Abdullah, 19 and Mohd Sadruddin Azman, 20
- both already in remand since Dec 30, 2008 - were jailed for 31/2
years and sentenced to five strokes of the cane each.
All are Singaporean, except Rishi, who is a Singapore permanent
resident from Malaysia.
To the defence lawyers' pleas for probation or reformative
training for the five teens, the judge said: 'A sentence so
lenient... would not be of the public interest or not sufficiently
address the gravity of the case.
'It was a gang sexual assault of a grave nature which the
accused persons had perpetrated without her consent.'
The five, who were aged between 17 and 19 at the time of the
offences, had gathered at Shafie's flat in Woodlands when his
parents were overseas on the night of Dec 25, 2008.
It started with the victim receiving a phone call that day from
Lim, who lied that he was a schoolmate.
Although she did not know him, she agreed to meet for
supper.
It was Rishi, her former schoolmate, who turned up. He was the
only one she knew from the group of five.
Rishi took her to the flat and introduced her to the others. Lim
admitted that he had made the call.
The group then started playing card games which involved
alcoholic drinks as forfeits.
Some time the next morning, the victim agreed to sex with Lim,
but was later assaulted by the five.
In court yesterday, the five youths wept as their relatives
approached them in the dock after they had been sentenced.
Two of them kissed their parents' hands through the glass
partition in a typical gesture of respect.
-- ST