Malaysian man sentenced to 15 years jail, 24 strokes of the cane for rape and robbery
Man in handcuffs. Photo: Reuters
SINGAPORE — A Malaysian man was today (Jan 9) sentenced by the High Court to 15 years in prison and 24 strokes of the cane for raping and robbing a Singaporean woman at a park in Bukit Batok.
Sinnathamby Ramiah, 41, who worked here as a steel work supervisor, assaulted and raped the 47 year old mother, while she was jogging at the neighbourhood park at night on Aug 4, 2013.
A habitual jogger, the victim — who works as a program manager — went to the park that night at about 9pm for her routine run. Sinnathamby, who was also at the park to have a few cans of beer, noticed her and became sexually aroused.
After following and watching her for some time under the guise of doing leg stretching exercises, Sinnathamby suddenly grabbed the victim from behind, and tried to restrain her with cable ties which he had brought along with him with the intention to repair the canvas of his motorcycle.
He then forcibly dragged the victim to a secluded area where he pinned her down, molested her and raped her, despite her pleas for him to stop. He also threatened to kill her if she screamed.
Afterwards, Sinnathamby pried the victim’s iPhone 4s mobile phone from her hand and ran away with it. The victim then made her way home and lodged a police report that same night.
Sinnathamby was arrested on Sept 10, 2013, after the police managed to track him down when he tried to access the victim’s iPhone several days after the incident.
Following his arrest, Sinnathamby was remanded at the Institute of Mental Health. Psychiatric evaluation reports found him to be of at least moderate to high risk of sexual violence.
Sinnathamby faced three charges against him — for rape, robbery and using criminal force.
