SINGAPORE: A man who attempted to rape a Thai disco singer was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in prison and six strokes of the cane on Friday (Dec 6).
Yeo Zhuo Ping, 28, was convicted after an earlier trial on two charges of attempted rape and one charge of attempted sexual assault in the early hours of Aug 7, 2018.
The identity of the victim, who was 31 at the time, is protected by gag order. The attack happened just hours after she and Yeo, then 23, met for the first time.
The victim started her shift at her workplace at 9pm on Aug 6, 2018. Yeo and a friend visited the bar that evening.
At trial, the victim testified that she was paid a commission when customers bought flower garlands. Yeo bought a garland for her and she entertained him at his table, where they played drinking games.
The victim left with Yeo when she ended her shift at about 3am. Yeo had asked her out for supper, and she initially agreed as she wanted to keep him as a customer.
But she changed her mind and decided to go home as she was flying to Bangkok later that day. Yeo offered to send her home, and she agreed.
The car they took together was unable to stop at the victim’s home, so they alighted and walked towards her place.
The victim testified that Yeo was hugging and kissing her, and she was trying to push him away and asked him to stop.
She tried to run away, but Yeo refused to let her go. Eventually, he pushed her into a small room at a staircase landing of a housing block at Kim Tian Road.
She testified that he attempted twice to rape her there, and also tried to make her perform a sex act on him.
The victim, who was in tears, pleaded with Yeo to let her go. She informed the court he started to look frightened and left, leaving her alone in the room.
The victim then sent her then-boyfriend a picture of her location, and he found her and brought her to her home. She made a police report before flying to Bangkok later that day.
A medical exam after she returned to Singapore found that she had injuries consistent with having been sexually assaulted.
Police camera footage also captured the victim struggling against Yeo and that he had pushed her under the stairwell, before they disappeared from view.
Yeo’s defence was one of denial. He claimed that he was unable to recall everything that happened at the stairwell because he had drunk a lot and had “broken memories”.
He also claimed to have been knocked out after hitting his head on the low ceiling in the aforementioned small room.
District Judge James Elisha Lee convicted Yeo in August, rejecting his defence and calling his testimony “entirely a fabrication and afterthought”.
On Friday, the judge said the dominant sentencing considerations were general deterrence, retribution and protection of the public.
He pointed out that Yeo had claimed trial, putting the victim through the ordeal of having to recount her trauma on the stand.
He also noted Yeo’s allegations that the police officer who recorded his statements had fabricated them, which the judge found unbelievable.
Yeo separately committed drink-driving and dangerous driving offences, for which he was sentenced to four weeks’ jail, fined S$8,500 and given a 36-month driving ban that will take effect after his release.
Defence lawyer Amarjit Singh informed the court that Yeo, whose mother was in court, would start serving his sentence on Friday.
