'What's wrong with you? You're a father': Man gets over 4 years' jail, 6 strokes of cane for molesting cousin-in-law

SINGAPORE — Less than two months after his wife gave birth in Malaysia, a man invited the wife's cousin back to his Singapore apartment following an evening of drinking at a club and molested the woman.

The Malaysian man, now aged 43, was sentenced to four years and two months' jail and six strokes of the cane on Monday (Aug 14) after he was convicted in May of using criminal force to restrain his victim.

The man, whose name cannot be published to protect the victim's identity, had claimed trial. In his defence, he claimed that he could not remember the incident due to an alcohol-induced blackout, though he recalled going out with the victim and others earlier in the evening.

The victim, whose name cannot be published either, was aged 26 at the time, and had travelled from Malaysia with the plan to stay at an acquaintance's residence.

After the sentencing, defence counsel Nevinjit Singh told the court that his client is appealing against the conviction and sentence. The man remains on bail of S$30,000.

WHAT HAPPENED

Court documents showed that on March 15 in 2019, both the man and his cousin-in-law had been a part of a social event with acquaintances where they had dinner at one of their friend's home before heading to a Bollywood-themed club.

Though she had originally planned to stay at an acquaintance's home, the man suggested that she stay in the guest room of his apartment instead, rather than returning to her friend's home where she might wake his children.

The victim decided to take up the man's suggestion.

Before the two left the club at around 3.30am, the victim tripped and injured her left ankle. 

She and the man then proceeded to his home in a taxi.

The man's home was a rented unit in central Singapore that he had shared with his wife before his wife returned to Malaysia where she gave birth to their son less than two months before the incident.

Since then, he had remained in Singapore living alone while his wife had remained in Malaysia.

When they arrived at his apartment, the man showed his cousin-in-law the guest room before attending to her injured ankle by massaging it with ointment.

Feeling tired, she asked the man to help turn off the lights and leave the guest room. While he did switch off the lights, the man did not leave the room and instead laid on the bed with her.

She then sat up and insisted that the accused left the room, but instead of doing as he was asked, he said that he wished to "smell" her.

He then kissed her lips and neck, but the woman pushed him away.

She then said: "What's wrong with you? You just had a baby, you're a father."

The man told her that "no one needs to know" and that he was "sick in the head".

He then touched her inappropriately while she continued to resist his advances.

Undeterred, he pulled her hand into his pants and she resisted again.

The man then tried to kiss her and touched her private parts.

As she struggled to remove his hand, the man got on top of her and held her down to kiss her and touch her chest.

The victim recalled kicking him and trying to push him off as she cried, but was unable to leave the bed under the man's restraint.

She was only able to make her escape when he fell asleep.

The victim returned to Malaysia a few days later and did not make a police report because she was concerned about her cousin who had just given birth and was financially dependent on the man.

She made a police report about eight months later on Nov 28 in Singapore after she was diagnosed to have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and sought to find closure over the incident.

During the trial, the man did not have any competing version of events since he had claimed to suffer a black-out from the alcohol consumption and had no recollection of the incident.

BREACH OF TRUST

Before the sentencing on Monday, the prosecution sought a sentence of five to six years' jail and six strokes of the cane, while the defence argued for a sentence of not more than three years and six strokes of the cane.

In delivering his sentence, District Judge Marvin Bay said that while the man's intrusions appeared extreme given the way he touched the victim's intimate areas, the offence seemed to have been committed with a limited level of prior planning and pre-meditation.

The judge added that though the offence had seemed to be predicated from a level of disinhibition from the alcohol consumption, he agreed with the prosecution that there was a breach of trust as the victim had relied on their relationship to feel safe staying overnight at his apartment.

For wrongful restraint with the intent to outrage the victim's modesty, the man could have been jailed for up to 10 years and caned.