SHE arrived home in the wee hours of the morning and went into her room to sleep.
The unemployed woman, 25, had no idea that in the next room, her mother, 48, a cashier, had been bound and gagged and was being sexually assaulted in what eventually became a horrifying six-hour ordeal.
The attacker, 27, a dispatch rider for a fast food restaurant, was so audacious that at one point, he even went to the kitchen to get a drink before continuing with his attack.
The young woman was also unaware that the attacker was someone she knew – her ex-boyfriend. Later that day, when she told him what had happened to her mother, he even asked her to keep him updated if she heard anything about the police investigations.
We are not naming them because there is a court order against identifying the victim. Yesterday, the man was sentenced to 25 years in jail and 24 strokes of the cane by Justice Chan Seng Onn.
He pleaded guilty to four charges of aggravated rape, aggravated sexual assault by penetration, attempted aggravated rape and housebreaking by night.
Three other charges of theft, attempted aggravated rape and aggravated molest were taken into consideration during sentencing.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Tan Boon Khai and Chua Ying-Hong told the court that the man had gone to his ex-girlfriend’s flat to visit her in November 2008. They broke up 10 years ago but remained in touch.
While there, he saw a bunch of keys left on the television cabinet and decided to steal them. He asked his ex-girlfriend to get him a drink and when she went into the kitchen, he took the keys.
Then, five months later, on 3 Apr last year, the two were SMS-ing each other and he found out that she would be returning home late that day.
As he was in need of money, he decided to break into her flat using the keys he had stolen. He knew that his ex-girlfriend shared the flat with her mother, who is a divorcee.
The man packed an orange T-shirt, a pair of gloves and some masking tape into his haversack before leaving for the flat. He entered using the stolen keys shortly after 1am the next day. But before that, he used the orange T-shirt to cover his face, leaving only his eyes exposed.
Masking tape
The man, who was wearing his gloves, first went to check that his ex-girlfriend was not in her room. He did not go into her room because he knew that she had no valuables.
Instead, he went into her mother’s room and switched on the lights. The woman woke up, but the man covered her mouth with masking tape and told her to “shut up”. He then tied her arms to the bedpost.
Using masking tape and a piece of cloth he found in the flat, he covered her eyes and face, then tried to rape her, but was unsuccessful. When the masking tape over her mouth came loose, she asked him to let her go to the toilet, but he ignored her.
His ex-girlfriend returned home about three hours later at 4am and sent him an SMS asking him to call her the next day. The man panicked and remained quiet in the room. He stuffed a hair band into the woman’s mouth to prevent her from shouting.
After he heard his ex-girlfriend going into her bedroom, he went to the kitchen and got two bottles of water from the refrigerator as he was thirsty.
He then returned to the woman’s room and used a cloth to cover the gap under the room door to avoid being detected by his ex-girlfriend.
The man then molested the woman as she remained bound and gagged.
At about 5.30am, the woman’s handphone alarm sounded. It was during this time that he went on to sexually assault her with his fingers.
Following this, he tried to rape her but failed.
The woman later told him that she needed to go to the toilet. He again ignored her and instead, tightened the masking tape around her mouth.
The woman had no choice but to defecate and urinate on her bed. After cleaning her up, he again tried to rape her. This time, he was successful.
The man left the flat at about 7am. He later threw away his T-shirt and masking tape into a rubbish bin at the ground floor of his block.
He stole the woman’s handphone and $100.
By the time she managed to untie herself and call her sister for help, it was already past 8am. Her sister and brother-in-law arrived at her flat to find her crying and her arms still bound. They untied her and called the police.
The victim was given an emergency contraceptive by a doctor later that day to prevent an unwanted pregnancy.
Arrested
The man later sent his ex-girlfriend multiple SMS-es asking if the police had discovered any evidence. He also told her to let him know if there were any updates.
He was arrested on 23 Apr last year, after DNA found on the woman and her clothes were traced back to him.
In court yesterday, the man, who did not have a lawyer, asked for a copy of the court documents so that he could read them.
He wiped away tears as the details of his attack were read out by the prosecution, who said that he had treated her as his “personal sex slave”.
None of his family members turned up.
Among his charges, aggravated sexual assault by penetration and aggravated rape carried the highest penalty.
He could have been jailed 20 years and caned at least 12 strokes on each charge.
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