Man found guilty of abducting, raping drunk woman
Stock photo from Reuters
SINGAPORE — Dismissing a bunker surveyor’s claims that his victim had consensual sex with him after recovering from alcohol intoxication, the High Court on Tuesday (July 4) found him guilty of abducting and raping the woman following a night out at Zouk three years ago.
In convicting Ong Soon Heng, 40, of rape and abduction, Judicial Commissioner Aedit Abdullah said there was no evidence that the woman, now 25, had recovered from her drunken stupor and consented to have sex with the accused in the July 2014 incident.
He also emphasised that Ong’s argument that he was in a relationship with the woman was “irrelevant”, as his supposed partner was unconscious during the sexual act.
Video evidence from a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera “clearly showed” that the woman was unconscious, and had to be carried out of the club.
The victim cannot be named due to a court order.
Her state of unconsciousness was also supported by evidence from the Zouk staff, her father, and also her boyfriend, who had found her lying in a stupor next to Ong in his bed at the latter’s house.
“Given her state as depicted, it beggared belief that the accused could have woken her up soon after leaving the club,” Judicial Commissioner Aedit said.
During the trial, which started in March this year, the court heard that in the wee hours of July 24, 2014, Ong and the woman, together with a few friends, had gone to popular nightclub Zouk, which was then located at 17 Jiak Kim Street.
The victim, then 22, became acquainted with Ong, a divorcee, during her internship at a diner.
Ong is friends with the diner’s owners, and visited the place occasionally.
After the woman became intoxicated and unconscious, Ong, who was 37 at that time, carried her to the back seat of his car.
This act of his was captured by a CCTV camera.
They left Zouk at 4.04am, and Ong brought the victim back to his house at Hume Heights.
Over two hours later, the woman’s boyfriend — who had traced her whereabouts using the Find my iPhone app — discovered her “lying in a stupor” next to Ong in his bed, wearing a T-shirt and boxer shorts that were not hers.
Ong then denied doing anything untoward with the woman. He claimed that he had changed her clothes as she had vomited on her dress, although the boyfriend told the court that her dress was clean, and there were no vomit stains.
When confronted by the woman’s father a few hours later, Ong again denied that he had sex with her.
Two days after the incident, Ong requested to meet the father, where he admitted to having sex with the woman. Their conversation was recorded on the father’s phone.
During the trial, the court heard from a senior consultant psychiatrist, Dr Guo Song, that the woman’s estimated blood-alcohol concentration was in the range of 210 to 254mg per 100ml of blood during the time of the incident.
In comparison, the legal limit in blood-alcohol level for driving is 80mg per 100ml.
This indicated that she could have been unconscious, said Dr Guo, who is head of research at the Institute of Mental Health’s addiction medicine department.
The Judicial Commissioner also accepted Dr Guo’s conclusion — which was disputed by Ong’s lawyers — and pointed out that even the medical expert which had testified on the defence’s behalf also noted that the woman could have been unconscious during the incident.
Ong, who is currently out on S$60,000 bail, is due to be sentenced at a later date.
For rape, he could be jailed up to 20 years and caned. For abduction, he faces a jail term of up to seven years and a fine.
