Wife-sharing drug rapes: Man testifies that wife had affair with the first man he sent to 'test' her loyalty

SINGAPORE: A man who conspired with multiple men so they could rape his drugged wife on Wednesday (Aug 16) told a court that he had first sent an online acquaintance to woo his wife in order to "test" her loyalty.

However, it took an unexpected turn when his wife began having an affair with this new man.

All parties in this case are referred to by letters of the alphabet in order to protect the victims' identities.

J, the man whose wife was raped and drugged over eight years, took the stand as a prosecution witness on Wednesday to testify against O, who allegedly had an affair with J's wife.

O, 44, is on trial for one count of engaging in a conspiracy with J, 42, to rape J's wife between 2010 and 2011.

He is the last in a group of seven men to be dealt with, and the only one to claim trial.

The network of rapes was discovered in January 2020, when J's wife made a police report after finding explicit photos of herself in her husband's phone.

J AND O

J and O met online after O started an online message thread titled Wife Fantasy on Sammyboy forum in April 2010.

His message called for people with wife-related fantasies to approach him to share stories, pictures or videos.

Explaining how the series of events came to be, J said that he first started out chatting in the forum about his marriage issues, as he suspected that his wife was being unfaithful to him.

The couple had married in 2008 and later had a total of four children. In 2009, J's wife found out that J had cheated on her.

"I believe she has been holding this as a grudge since then," he said. "Repeatedly telling me - that if I can do as such she can do the same as well. Since then I have been living in fear, suspense."

J said that his wife was working with Hotel 81 and became "quite involved" with a hotel manager. At the same time, she became "cold" towards him.

J said this worried him and made him feel that "it's heading towards something that might go wrong", so he decided to go online to chat with others about it.

"Shortly, people started to give me suggestions that maybe you should test out your wife to know what is actually happening," said J.

He said he looked around for "suitable people" to help him with this and narrowed down the list to two - O, and another co-accused known as L.

Despite some other online chat friends telling J not to trust O as they found him "sneaky", J decided to send O to "test" his wife's loyalty.

Asked by Deputy Public Prosecutor Lim Ying Min why he chose O, J said: "The way he express himself to me, he is very confident of it. And at the same time, he tell me he drives a BMW car. And why eventually I chose him is because my wife's ex-boyfriend drove a BMW. Until today I can still remember this very clearly."

He said he gave O the details of his wife's Facebook account, and he reached out to her there sometime in 2010.

About a month after O started communicating with J's wife online, they met up in person at a restaurant for dinner.

J said that O reported back to him about what happened here - that they drank wine, held hands and that he kissed and hugged her.

On Sep 2, 2010, O met J's wife for lunch before taking her to a place suggested by J, where they had consensual sex. O's credit card records reflect the corresponding transactions.

However, O did not tell J that he had consensual sex with J's wife.

In court, J said that O was supposed to be giving him "accurate feedback" on what was happening, because J was meant to have the right to call a halt on any activities.

J soon suspected that something was going on between his wife and O.

On Oct 26, 2010, J went to Marina Bay Sands resort with his wife and he posted a photo online of himself with his wife at the infinity pool.

J said he checked his wife's chatlogs on MSN, which she used to chat with people including O.

In one chat, he saw his wife telling O that when J asked for intimacy, she did not feel like responding to him, but would close her eyes and imagine that J was O.

After the staycation at Marina Bay Sands, J snooped on another chat where O asked J's wife if she enjoyed her staycation, whether she swam, and whether she wore a bikini.

After this, J confronted his wife but not directly - he told her that a neighbour had seen her being intimate with another man.

J said he believed that the affair ended after this because his wife had blocked O on MSN.

On Mar 14, 2011, their third wedding anniversary, J drugged his wife and asked O over.

The series of events that occurred on this occasion was disputed by the prosecution and the defence.

The prosecution's case was that O conspired with J for O to rape J's drugged wife.

But when asked to recount what happened, J spoke in dribs and drabs without a clear narrative. He mentioned wanting to retaliate against his wife for "being unfaithful to me" and "for causing dishonour to me".

When asked by Ms Lim if the purpose of O going over was to rape his wife, J said yes. But when asked how O knew this purpose, J said: "I believe he should know what is being discussed between me and my co-accused persons as well."

J then said that he had only two "mental memories" of what happened that day - one of which involved him cleaning his wife up and crying, asking himself "What have I done".

J had previously admitted that he felt a mix of "guilt and arousal" watching them, but now said that: "Until today, I cannot imagine myself standing there and (watching)."

PROSECUTION PRODUCES MESSAGES

The prosecution showed J some messages he exchanged with another co-accused, where J said he got a man to rape his wife on their third-year wedding anniversary.

J confirmed that this referred to O.

The prosecutor also showed J messages from a year later, in 2014, where O asked J if there was any "operation (J's wife)".

Asked to explain this operation, J said: "I'm a military guy. So he's asking whether is there any operation (J's wife) which is my wife, and the operation is referring to whether am I drugging my wife for the purpose to get other people to rape her."

The men then discuss how to get J's wife drugged so that the operation could be carried out.

They also discussed carrying out the act in the children's room, while the children were asleep.

In other chats, O asked J what his back-up plan was if his wife suspected something.

J said he would "deny and act (as) if nothing happened" but said there would be "no return" if the other man was found in the house.

O suggested for J to say he had such a fetish, and to make sure all chat records were deleted.

"If she make police report, all die," said O.

O is defended by lawyers Mr Chua Eng Hui, Ms Luo Ling Ling and Mr Joshua Ho. He appeared in court in a jacket and tie, and took down notes as the hearing progressed.

The trial continues. If convicted of abetment by conspiracy to commit rape, O could be jailed for up to 20 years and fined or caned.

Four of the men involved - K, L, M and N - were sentenced in November 2022, receiving jail terms of between 13-and-a-half years and 22 years. Three of them received 20 strokes of the cane, while the fourth did not as he was above 50.

The fifth man, P, was sentenced in January 2022.

J himself was sentenced in May this year and later indicated that he wanted to appeal.