More than 14 years’ jail, caning for man who raped wife

Source: Straits Times
Article Date: 05 Mar 2025
Author: Selina Lum

He is believed to be the first to be convicted after immunity for husbands was repealed.

After slapping his wife and threatening to beat her to death with a metal rod, a man sexually assaulted and raped the woman.

The 42-year-old man initially claimed trial for most of the charges he faced relating to the incident, which took place in November 2020.

He contended that the sexual acts were consensual.

But after two days of trial, during which the woman testified on the stand, the man decided to plead guilty.

On March 4, he was sentenced by the High Court to a jail term of 14 years, three months and eight weeks, and 12 strokes of the cane.

The man is believed to be the first person convicted of raping his wife after immunity for husbands was repealed with effect from Jan 1, 2020.

He had pleaded guilty to one count of rape, one count of outrage of modesty and one count of voluntarily causing hurt.

Six other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

A gag order prohibits the publication of any details leading to the identification of both the woman and the man, as well as the location where the incident took place.

The couple, who have three children, are foreigners who worked in Singapore at the time.

The woman lived in a flat provided by her employer, while the man lived elsewhere. The children did not live in Singapore.

On the morning of Nov 8, 2020, the man asked to meet his wife to pass her a gift.

She initially declined. But the man showed up at the void deck of her flat, and she went down to meet him.

There, the couple had a heated quarrel after the woman rejected his present.

An altercation between them ensued, which resulted in the man snatching the woman’s mobile phone. She then removed a chain from her neck and threw it on the floor.

The couple continued quarrelling inside the lift.

When she tried to leave, he dragged her back into the lift, where he slapped and kicked her.

At the lift lobby, the couple encountered the woman’s supervisor.

Despite her misgivings, the woman heeded her supervisor’s advice to go with her husband to resolve their dispute amicably.

The man then took her on his motorcycle to his place. After she stepped in, he lowered the roller shutters.

The couple then had an argument, and he slapped her, causing her to fall to the ground and hit her mouth on the floor.

While she lay there bleeding from the mouth, the man pulled off her shorts.

He brandished a metal rod over his head and told her: “If you shout, I will use this to hit you to death.”

The woman complied when he told her to remove the rest of her clothes.

He then put down the metal rod and raped her.

The man then took her back to her place on his motorcycle.

When she reached home, she told her flatmate to call the police.

The man was arrested on Nov 10.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Alan Loh had sought a sentence of at least 13 to 14 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane.

He cited the threat of violence, the abuse of trust and the hurt caused to the victim as aggravating factors.

The prosecutor noted that in her victim impact statement, the woman said she was “heartbroken” after the incident and that it took her eight months to get back to normal.

The prosecutor added that she felt hurt because her relationship with her children had been affected. He did not elaborate.

Defence counsel Shashi Nathan said the man was truly remorseful and decided to plead guilty because he did not want to put the victim through the trial.

The lawyer noted that his client has not seen his family for five years; he could not even recognise one of his children, whom he last saw as a teenager, who was present in court.

Setting out the events before the attack, Mr Nathan said the couple’s relationship deteriorated as a result of being separated due to Covid-19 restrictions, and the man was upset that the victim had ignored his attempts at reconciliation.