Threesome rape trial: Victim's boyfriend testifies about how he planned 'sex game' with accused rapist

SINGAPORE: The boyfriend of a woman who said she was raped while blindfolded took the stand on Tuesday (Nov 5) to describe how he set up the scenario for a stranger to have sex with his girlfriend.

This was to fulfil a fantasy he had of watching the 25-year-old woman have sex with another man.

The boyfriend, who is currently serving his sentence for his part in the scheme inspired by the Fifty Shades Of Grey movie, took the stand on Tuesday (Nov 5).

The stranger, 23-year-old Srihari Mahendran, claimed trial to 10 charges including rape, sexual assault and molest, linked to two occasions of sexual activity at hotels in 2016.

The 28-year-old boyfriend, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, took the stand for the prosecution and described how he and Srihari allegedly concocted a plan for the threesome scenario to take place.

READ: Former auxiliary officer who arranged for girlfriend to be raped by stranger gets jail

Dressed in his prison outfit, the bespectacled man told the court that he first got to know Srihari on microblogging platform Tumblr in 2015.

The boyfriend used the platform to watch pornography, and both men "followed" each other's accounts.

"Out of sheer boredom, I just chat up with him and just say hi," he said. "Eventually our conversation led to sexual fantasies. I expressed my thoughts about having a threesome with him, and from then on, we continued to have that idea."

He said he told Srihari, who was 20 and jobless at the time, how he thought it would "be interesting to watch (the victim) have sex with other men in my presence".

"But because she's not okay with it, the thing is - she cannot know that there's another guy coming into the room. So the whole time, she'll (have to) think it's me having sex with her," said the boyfriend.

He is serving a sentence of 19 years and 11 months' jail, along with 24 strokes of the cane, that was reduced after he appealed.

His girlfriend had realised a third person was in the room when she removed her blindfold after feeling suspicious. She then sought help from the hotel staff.

BOYFRIEND AND ACCUSED DISCUSSED HOW TO MAKE THREESOME HAPPEN

When Srihari asked him how they would make their plan work, the boyfriend said the victim would be blindfolded and would not know there was another man in the room.

He also asked Srihari for details of his build and for a photo of his lower body.

"I wanted to know what he looked like, so I asked him a bit (about) him, his height, his race, his build," the boyfriend said. "He told me he was 20 or 21, of average build, Arab descent or mixed race."

He then asked Srihari for a picture of "the lower part of his body just to get an idea of what he looked like", and Srihari sent him a photo of himself lying on a bunk bed.

"I wanted to know that at least if he looks okay or looks better than me, then maybe if the victim found out, she wouldn't be too angry about it," said the man.

In return, he also sent photos of himself and his girlfriend to Srihari and told him details of how he would go to hotels to have sex with his girlfriend.

They discussed how Srihari would be "on standby" when the couple went to hotels for sex, and the boyfriend shared how he thought of ways to prevent his girlfriend from discovering Srihari.

He told Srihari not to smoke, and Srihari asked him what to do about his legs, as they were hairier than the victim's boyfriend's.

"When he asked me these questions, I'll think of solutions on the spot," said the boyfriend. "Like getting pantyhose. I told him she will be tied up and blindfolded so she won't know there's anyone in the room ... and we already agreed that we would have to maintain silence the whole time."

The boyfriend told the court that he had met his girlfriend on an app and they had an intimate relationship, often going to hotels for sex.

When their sex life grew stagnant, they "spiced it up" with bondage play, an idea he claims they both got after watching Fifty Shades Of Grey.

He claimed that the woman agreed to the acts and was reluctant only when it came to his requests to film them having sex.

He asked her on one occasion if she would like to take part in a threesome, but she said no, and he did not think she would agree if he asked her outright to have a threesome with Srihari.

YOUR PROPOSED ACT WAS AN OFFENCE: PROSECUTOR

"Were you not aware that what you were proposing to do ... was an offence?" asked Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Yiwen.

"At that point of time, that was not at the top of my head," answered the boyfriend.

He said he told Srihari "multiple times" that he had not sought his girlfriend's consent for the threesome.

He claimed Srihari did not ask him what would happen if the victim found out about his presence, and said "he was more focused on how to make it happen".

He found Srihari "trustworthy" based on the way he replied him in his messages, and was "very friendly" and "always ready to make it happen", "covering all grounds for me that I might have overlooked".

"I felt like we were partners in this," said the boyfriend. "If he's not so trustworthy, he wouldn't even try to ... ask anything to cover whatever aspect that might give away the game."

ROPE AND PANTYHOSE

On the first occasion on Apr 29, 2016, the couple went to Hotel 81 Bugis to have sex. 

The boyfriend told Srihari to be on standby and went to buy a rope and pantyhose, telling Srihari that he would subsequently tell him the room number.

When the couple got a room in the hotel, the boyfriend left the door slightly open for Srihari, before blindfolding the victim, tying her up and putting on pantyhose for her so she would not notice Srihari's hairy legs.

He pretended to go to the bathroom, leaving the tap running, and sent a text message to Srihari, asking him to come. When he did not, he looked out of the room and saw Srihari sitting at the end of the corridor.

He then waved Srihari into the room, where the victim was bound and blindfolded.

The hearing ended before going into the details of the acts, and will resume on Wednesday.

The prosecution will call 35 witnesses for the trial, including DNA analysts with the Health Sciences Authority. They will testify that the victim's DNA matched the profile extracted from Srihari's underwear and penile swab, and that his DNA was found in swabs from the victim.

The prosecution will also admit into evidence text messages between the two men, as well as video recordings of the incident to corroborate the account that Srihari was fully aware that the victim had no knowledge she was having sex with him.

Srihari is defended by lawyers Randhawa Ravinderpal Singh and Trent Ng.

If found guilty of rape, Srihari faces a maximum jail term of 20 years and a fine or caning.