Court of Appeal reduces jail time for man who raped stranger’s girlfriend in ‘threesome fantasy’

SINGAPORE — Three judges in the apex court on Wednesday (July 6) reduced the jail sentence imposed on a man who twice raped a stranger’s girlfriend in hotel rooms in 2016, when she was bound, blindfolded and unaware of his presence.

The Court of Appeal reduced Srihari Mahendran’s original jail term by 16 months — from 17 years and 10 months to 16 years and 6 months. There is no change to his sentence of 14 strokes of the cane. 

The three appellate judges ruled that the High Court judge was not consistent enough when sentencing Srihari after the victim’s boyfriend had been prosecuted.

They referred to the legal principle of parity, which states that offenders who commit the same or similar criminal offence should generally be given similar sentences.

Srihari had met the other man online and agreed to play into his threesome “deviant fantasies” on two occasions in 2016, the court heard.

Srihari, who was aged 20 at the time, claimed trial to multiple sexual-related offences in the High Court.

During the trial, which began in 2019, the court dismissed his claims that he did not know the victim had not given consent because her boyfriend had misled him.

On Wednesday, his lawyer Edmond Pereira dropped the appeal against the conviction because Srihari conceded that he should have taken steps to ensure the victim consented.

Mr Pereira then sought a shorter sentence of 14 to 16 years’ jail.

The defence counsel argued that the victim’s boyfriend was the main mastermind and perpetrator of the offences, and the two men’s respective sentences did not reflect their individual culpabilities.

The victim’s boyfriend — who cannot be named to protect the victim’s identity — pleaded guilty and was sentenced in November 2018 to 23 years and 11 months' jail and 24 strokes of the cane.

In August 2019, the Court of Appeal reduced his jail term by four years to 19 years and 11 months. He then testified against Srihari.

FACTS OF THE CASE

The court previously heard that the rapes happened on April 29 and Aug 6 in 2016 to fulfil the sexual fantasy of the victim’s boyfriend, who wanted to watch a third party have sex with her. He was aged 24 at the time.

He persuaded her to take part in the sexual practice of “soft bondage”, inspired by the popular book 50 Shades of Grey.

He then got to know Srihari through social networking site Tumblr. The pair exchanged photographs of their sexual conquests, with the victim’s boyfriend sharing photos of her physically bound.

He invited Srihari to have a threesome but kept Srihari’s participation a secret because his girlfriend did not agree to the idea.

On both occasions, Srihari sneaked into their hotel room silently to avoid suspicion. She was blindfolded and bound.

The second time, the girlfriend discovered to her horror what was occurring when she realised that there was more than one pair of hands on her. Her boyfriend had filmed the assaults on his phone.

HE WAS 'ENTHUSIASTIC PARTICIPANT'

During the apex court hearing on Wednesday, the three appellate judges — Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon along with Judges of Appeal Judith Prakash and Tay Yong Kwang — cautioned Mr Pereira not to rely on the argument of consent, given that Srihari had dropped his appeal against the conviction.

The defence counsel had argued that Srihari, who was serving his National Service at the time, was acting on the other man’s instructions to not say anything to the victim.

Nevertheless, the lawyer acknowledged that Srihari could have taken steps to secure the victim’s consent, perhaps by simply asking her.

Justice Prakash pointed out that Srihari was an "enthusiastic participant", adding: “Being a young man, only 21, he should have been aware of certain things like consent. I don’t think he was so young that his youth can excuse him.”

Chief Justice Menon questioned how the issue of consent would affect Srihari’s sentence, pointing out that the victim’s boyfriend had pleaded guilty while Srihari claimed trial.

Mr Pereira then argued that the victim’s boyfriend had initially denied everything, and lied to police investigators and Institute of Mental Health psychiatrists. On the other hand, Srihari came clean almost from the beginning.

However, Chief Justice Menon noted that Srihari’s consent argument only surfaced some seven months after the offences. He had told hotel employees right after the second occasion that he did not know if the victim consented or not.

Mr Pereira responded that Srihari “readily informed” them of the first occasion, which the victim’s boyfriend did not mention and that the authorities did not know about.

In response to the defence’s arguments, Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Yiwen said that the High Court judge had already considered the larger role that the victim’s boyfriend played.

The prosecutor added that Srihari was sentenced to a “good two years and 10 strokes less” than the victim's boyfriend — which Chief Justice Menon agreed was a significant difference. 

In accepting Srihari’s appeal, the three judges ruled that the “parity principle was not given adequate expression in weight”.

They noted that the sentence for the victim’s boyfriend had been reduced on appeal.

“In that light, given the difference in culpability, we think the aggregate sentence in this case was not sufficiently differentiated from the co-accused,” Chief Justice Menon added.

Srihari will begin serving his sentence on July 20 and remains out on bail of S$100,000.

For each count of rape, he could have been jailed for up to 20 years and fined or caned.