Jail, caning for 20-year-old man who raped minors, attacked 19 victims in 'shocking and horrific' case

SINGAPORE: In a case described by the judge as one of the most shocking and horrific criminal sex cases in the courts, a teenager raped underage girls and committed a slew of sexual offences against a total of 19 victims.

For his actions, Muhammad Anddy Faizul Mohamed Eskah, now 20, was sentenced on Friday (Jun 12) to 22 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane. 

He pleaded guilty to nine charges including one count of rape, two counts of aggravated statutory rape, one count of statutory rape and various counts of sexual assault.

An additional 59 charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that Anddy was between the ages of 15 and 18 when he committed the acts from April 2015 to August 2017. 

He was first investigated in 2015 for sexual offences against two minors named only as V1 and V2 in court documents. All the victims' identities are protected by gag orders.

V2 became pregnant after the offence and gave birth to Anddy's daughter, but Anddy went on the run before any action could be taken against him.

Meanwhile, more police reports on other sexual offences by him surfaced, and he was first arrested in May 2016. By this time, he had committed offences against at least nine victims.

This initial set of offences included both consensual and non-consensual acts against girls, contacting them on online platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp.

He would obtain compromising photos and videos of them before using these to force the girls to submit sexually to him.

On many occasions, the girls agreed to his demands as they were afraid that he would circulate their nudes online. Other times, he would use physical force to get them to comply.

Before he was sentenced for this first set of offences, Anddy was released on bail on Aug 10, 2016 and went on a fresh spree against 10 more victims.

This time, he developed a new modus operandi, the prosecution said, approaching victims online by lying that he was a law student recruiting highly paid social escorts for rich clients.

He met the victims and posed as a paying customer before getting them to submit to his sexual demands by deceit or force. He also secretly took photos and videos of his sexual activity with the victims, before subsequently threatening them with the material.

He was eventually arrested again after the police ambushed him in his Bedok home on Aug 22, 12 days after he was released on bail.

He has been remanded since then and has been assessed by the Institute of Mental Health to pose a high risk of sexual reoffending.

THE FIRST VICTIM

Anddy was a student at ITE College East at the time of his initial arrest. The first victim, V1, was 13 to 14 and had gotten to know Anddy in early July 2015 when he befriended her on Facebook.

He began talking about sexual topics with her despite her discomfort and eventually invited her to his home, where he raped her.

V1 had grown to like Anddy, but suspected that he was cheating on her. In September 2015, they went to a staircase landing in Bedok where Anddy asked V1 to perform a sex act on him. She was unwilling, but he eventually pushed her to the ground and sexually assaulted her, covering her mouth to prevent her screams from being heard. 

He released his grip over her mouth only when she said she could not breathe. The victim suffered scratches on her elbows from rubbing against the floor while trying to crawl away.

V1's mother later saw messages exchanged between Anddy and her daughter, and reported the matter to the police on Sep 18, 2015.

A report on V1 from a child guidance clinic showed that V1 was bothered by Anddy's acts but did not tell anyone about them as she felt "ashamed and helpless".

She also said that she felt sad that she had lost her virginity at a young age and that she sometimes felt "depressed" and thought of the acts. 

PERSISTENT MANIPULATION OF ANOTHER VICTIM

Another victim, V5, was 13 and also got to know Anddy on Facebook. She did not respond to Anddy's messages at first as she was uncomfortable engaging with a stranger. But after a quarrel with her boyfriend, she felt vulnerable and insecure, and began responding to Anddy. 

Anddy asked V5 to send him pictures of herself, threatening to ruin her reputation by spreading rumours about her quarrel with her boyfriend if she refused.

Afraid of his threats, V5 eventually sent him compromising photos of herself and gave him her number.

Armed with the photos, Anddy kept pressing V5 for sex. In text messages between the two, V5 said she had spoken to her mother, who asked him to "better not do anything".

In response, Anddy said he would probably get a light sentence, adding: "I've read the code of laws so I know, you don't try to fool me."

"I didn't do anything to harm you, but you are harming me," replied V5.

Anddy refused to take no for an answer and kept manipulating V5, telling her that her loved ones including her boyfriend would be dragged into investigations if she reported Anddy to the police.

Eventually, V5 succumbed to Anddy's blackmail and met him at Bedok MRT Station on Feb 12, 2016. They went to his home, where he raped her. He raped her again the next day after threatening to circulate her nudes. 

These offences came to light only during police investigations when the police found V5's nude photographs in Anddy's phone.

ASKED ANOTHER VICTIM FOR NUDES FOR "SCHOOL PROJECT"

Anddy also sexually assaulted another victim - a 16-year-old girl identified as V6 in court documents.

After befriending her on Facebook in 2015, Anddy asked V6 for nudes claiming he needed them for a school project. He then threatened to circulate these nudes unless she sent him more pictures.

In late 2015, they met at a multi-storey car park after Anddy said he would delete the photos only if she submitted sexually to him.

There, he raped her twice, but did not delete the pictures. 

Later that year, he forced V6 to meet him at a store in VivoCity and raped her twice in a fitting room. He claimed he had forgotten to bring his phone and thus could not let V6 delete her nudes. 

He contacted her again in February 2016, using the photos as a threat. V6 was in class at the time and broke down. She reported the matter to the police after classmates advised her to. 

NEW MODUS OPERANDI

Another victim, 17-year-old V11, was subject to Andy's new modus operandi of posing as a law student. 

He reached out to her on Facebook in August 2017 and said he wanted to recruit V11 as a social escort, promising her S$2,500 per completed assignment.

She asked him what it involved, making it clear that she would not provide any sexual services, and he said it entailed only accompanying clients for activities like movies and meals.

Anddy instructed her to meet the "client", who was actually him, at a block of flats in Bedok and blindfold herself with a T-shirt once there.

As the shirt she brought was too small, Anddy covered her face with a jacket before leading to a staircase landing, where he raped and sodomised her.

He stole S$50 from her wallet while her face was still covered with the jacket, and never paid her the promised cash.

Later that month, Anddy contacted V11 again, promising to pay her for the first encounter and an additional S$2,500 to meet another client.

V11 told him that she was unwilling to engage in sodomy as she might have been injured or infected from the earlier episode.

She blindfolded herself with a T-shirt as instructed and met Anddy, who was posing as the client, at a block of flats.

He sexually assaulted her and sodomised her at the staircase landing, before stealing a bottle of perfume from her bag and promising to pay her at her workplace.

He later texted her to say that she had to transfer S$500 to him as a "bank fee" before he could pay her in full, and she transferred the money to him as she was desperate to be paid.

She transferred another S$200 to him believing his claim that she had transferred the first amount to a wrong account.

After this, he became uncontactable and V11 only heard about him when the police sought her assistance in investigations after their ambush on Anddy.

PSYCHIATRIC ASSESSMENT 

Anddy went through three psychiatric assessments by IMH psychiatrists during the course of police investigations.

A report in June 2016 found that Anddy did not suffer from any mental disorder, personality disorder or intellectual disability. He was not diagnosed with paedophilia as he was below the age of 17 at the time, and the age difference between him and his victims was less than five years.

A second report in 2017 found that Anddy possibly suffered from antisocial personality disorder as his offences involved deception, exploitation and a psychological desire to control the victim.

Such features are generally seen in people with psychopathy, a personality trait characterised by superficial charm, pathological lying, a lack of empathy and manipulativeness among features, court documents said.

Anddy was assessed to pose "an imminent and serious risk of reoffending" if not treated.

A final assessment in 2019, made after police investigations had concluded, also found that Anddy has antisocial personality disorder, with a pervasive failure to conform to lawful behaviour.

His risk of sexual reoffending was found to be high.

CASE IS NOTHING SHORT OF HEINOUS: PROSECUTOR

Deputy Public Prosecutor Winston Man asked for 22 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane, saying that this case is "nothing short of heinous".

Defence lawyer Henry Lim, who took the case under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme (CLAS), said his client had committed the offences when he was between 15 and 18, but has been remanded in adult prison since 2017.

He said the boy's parents were divorced and that both his stepfather and biological father were "of no help" to the boy.

His younger brother is serving a stint in a reformative training centre, and he has no guidance or mentorship.

Mr Lim said he had dealt with many CLAS cases in his life, and that Anddy was terribly ashamed and remorseful.

He asked the court to consider reformative training, but the judge said it was "out of the question" in this case.

JUDGE ADDRESSES ACCUSED

Justice Chan Seng Onn described the case as "one of the most shocking and horrific criminal cases involving sexual offenders that have come before the courts".

While Anddy was young, he was a "deviant sexual offender who committed a total of 68 offences involving 19 victims, between 15 and 18 years of age".

He told Anddy: "You are approaching 21 years old. You have many years ahead of you. You have been diagnosed to have a high risk of offending. You have a serious problem in trying to control sexual urges and your attitude towards the feminine gender."

The judge told him that he could seek help in prison to address these issues and change, and to study.

"One-third remission means 15 years," said the judge, adding that Anddy would be released when he turned 35 or 36, but that he would be looking at 30 years' jail if he reoffended upon release. 

"Your whole life will be spent in prison," said Justice Chan. "You ask yourself if it's worth it, this sexual spree."

"This I say to you - I do not know what you are thinking but certainly you must reflect deeply," he said. "Otherwise at 36 years old if you’re not helped and you don't want to change, God help you."