by Khushwant Singh
SHE felt guilty cheating on her boyfriend so she lied to him
about being raped.
Upon his urging, Li Jieyin, 22, lodged a police report. On
Friday, the plump waitress was fined $3,000 for giving false
information to Senior Staff Sergeant Matthew Ng of the Bedok North
neighbourhood police centre on May 14, 2009.
She told police she had been raped by 'Didi, her godbrother' in
the Golden Dragon Hotel in Geylang Road two days earlier on May 12.
However, a medical examination revealed no bruising on her body or
any signs of a struggle.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Darren Goh also told the court that Li
confessed to Senior Station Inspector Cecilia Yeo eight days later
about making up the rape accusation. She admitted that her guilty
conscience prompted her to tell her boyfriend when they met later
that day at the Pasir Ris MRT station but she also told him that
Didi had forced himself on her.
However, during the two-day trial in early 2011, Li - who did
not have a lawyer - tried to retract this confession by claiming
that she had made it in a 'confused and disturbed' state of mind.
Found guilty and convicted on March 25, she asked on Friday, to be
spared a jail sentence as her mother was dying of cancer.
District Judge Low Wee Ping said that although the usual
sentence for giving false information to the police is a jail term,
he was making an exception in this case. The judge said that she
had lied to the police to placate her boyfriend and not to get the
police to mount an investigation.