Rapist loses appeal, gets more jail time to replace caning because he turned 50

SINGAPORE: A rapist failed in his appeals against his conviction and sentence on Thursday (May 7) and instead got another six months' jail in lieu of 13 strokes of the cane.

This is because Koh Lee Hwa turned 50 in January, after being sentenced to 12 years and three weeks' jail in November 2025 for his sexual assault against a woman. He was also ordered to be given 13 strokes of the cane.

Since Koh had turned 50 and was no longer able to be caned, the additional six months would compensate for the loss of deterrence in the form of caning, the Court of Appeal said on Thursday.

It also said caning is always a good form of deterrence for sexual offences and it would also give some solace to victims that the attacker has to feel physical pain in addition to incarceration.

Koh remains on bail with his daughter as his bailor until he begins his jail term later this month.

BACKGROUND

He had claimed trial but was convicted of four charges, including rape, sexual assault by penetration and outrage of modesty.

The victim, whose age was redacted as her identity is protected by gag order, hired Koh to renovate her flat in 2015.

Koh, a Singapore permanent resident, did renovation and electrical repair jobs for her sporadically.

In August 2021, while at the woman's flat to repair lights, he hugged her without her consent and raped her.

The trial judge had rejected Koh's defence that the sex was consensual and found that the victim's evidence was unusually convincing and corroborated by messages to her friends.

On Thursday, defence lawyers Eugene Lee and Nichol Yeo from Nine Yards Chambers appealed against the conviction and sentence. The case was heard by Justices Steven Chong, Tay Yong Kwang and Kannan Ramesh.

Justice Chong and Justice Tay questioned Mr Lee on the arguments he was making.

JUSTICE CHONG QUESTIONS DEFENCE

For example, when Mr Lee argued that there was an inconsistency in the victim's account, Justice Chong said he did not think "we should be focusing on all these minor inconsistencies".

He pointed out that the victim sent a series of texts to her friends on the day of the rape, with one of them specifically referring to an act Koh had done, with the victim saying she was scared.

"Her reaction was - she's scared, right?" asked Justice Chong.

Mr Lee replied that that was what the victim said to her friend.

"Are you suggesting that those messages were false? Contrived?" asked Justice Chong.

When Mr Lee responded that it was "possible", Justice Chong replied: "Do you know how outrageous this is?"

He pointed out that the defence at trial, albeit a different set of lawyers, had not put it to the victim that she had fabricated those messages.

Since this was the case, the defence was not entitled to make such a submission during the appeal.

Justice Chong went on to say that he did not see how the defence could rely on alleged inconsistencies to undermine a piece of objective evidence.

"The answer is, you can't," he said. "Sexual intercourse is probably the most intimate, the most invasive act between a man and a woman."

He asked if it made any sense that the woman would have consented to sex, if the defence was precluded from challenging the message demonstrating fear on the part of the victim. 

Mr Lee conceded that it would be difficult for him to use that argument.

He tried arguing that an additional jail term should not be imposed because Koh could not be caned, as sought by the prosecution.

He said his client was about 45 when the offences occurred and he would not have known that the sentence would only be handed down when he was a few months short of turning 49, and that following the appeal, he could no longer be caned as he was 50.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Yvonne Poon urged the court not to let Koh get away with a "discount".

Speaking on behalf of the court, Justice Tay dismissed the appeal against conviction and sentence, saying the court agreed with the trial judge's decision and reasons.

He added six months' jail in place of the caning.