- Illustrative photo.
SINGAPORE: A 14-year-old girl who had run away from home took refuge in the flat of a man she met through her cousin as she had nowhere to go.
There, the man and his friends plied her with alcohol before taking turns to rape her while she was drunk.
Umar Abdul Rahim, then 18 years old and doing National Service, was one of the three who gang-raped her in May 2021.
Now 21, he was sentenced to 11 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane on Tuesday (Oct 1) by the High Court after he pleaded guilty to a charge of rape.
His cousin, Muhammad Uzair Abdul Rahman, 21, a part of the trio, was sentenced to 16 years’ jail and 20 strokes of the cane in October 2023.
He had pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and a count of sexual penetration of a minor under the age of 16.
The third man involved in the rape, Noor Asri Mohd Tahil, 37, and another alleged accomplice Mohammad Shahridzmie Salleh, 21, have not been dealt with yet.
The victim, whose identity is protected by a gag order, was placed under a Beyond Parental Control (BPC) order in March 2020.
Now known as a Family Guidance Order, parents can apply for this order if they are unable to control their child who is under 16.
If the order is granted, the court may order the child to be placed under the supervision of a welfare officer for up to three years, among other options.
The victim, now 17, ran away from her father’s home in May 2021 and the Youth Court issued a warrant of arrest against her.
While on the run, her cousin invited her to hang out at Asri’s unit, and she ended up staying in his flat.
On one occasion in May 2021, Asri roped her in to play a game of truth or dare with his friends under the guise of sexually violating her.
During the game, Asri told her he wanted to perform a sex act on her.
When she refused and said she was a virgin, Asri told her she had to comply as it was a dare. He also told her not to be afraid.
The prosecution said she found it difficult to continue resisting Asri as she was grateful to him for allowing her to stay in his house.
After Asri performed the act, the victim began crying and told the group she didn’t want to play any more, but she was made to endure another dare and Asri violated her again.
In another instance in the same month, she got very drunk while drinking with Asri and his friends, and was carried into the bedroom and stripped.
Umar, seeing that the victim was unconscious, raped her. So did Uzair and Asri.
She was arrested by the police the following month as she had run away from home while under a BPC order.
After she was placed in the Singapore Girls’ Home, she confided in her counsellor that she had been raped and a police report was lodged.
Seeking 10 to 11 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane for Umar, the prosecution said her trauma was amplified as she was acutely aware that more than one attacker was violating her.
“Not only does this represent the most grave intrusion of her bodily integrity, it is also an affront to her dignity of the highest order,” the prosecution said in written submissions.
It also raised several aggravating factors, including the victim’s vulnerability given her young age, her state of intoxication, and the risk of her contracting sexually transmitted diseases or getting pregnant.
Umar’s pro bono lawyer, Melvin Loh, said in mitigation that his client was not avoiding liability and pleaded guilty as soon as possible to own up to his mistake.
For committing rape, Umar could have been jailed for up to 20 years and fined or caned. - The Straits Times/ANN
