Former Grab driver Tan Yew Sin, 46, is facing three criminal charges after he engaged in sexual acts with his passenger, who was 19 then, after ferrying her home from a bar in the wee hours of May 19, 2018.

Tan reportedly penetrated the passenger with his finger, and attempted to penetrate her carnally.

He also fondled her breasts and attempted to insert his finger into her.

Tan does not dispute that the acts took place, and court documents stated that he had even given an account of "the full extent of the acts he performed" in the car's backseat, in his statements to the police.

However, Tan is claiming trial to three charges of attempted rape, sexual assault by penetration, and outrage of modesty, CNA reported.

In its opening address to the High Court, the prosecution said that Tan's defence is likely to be that the passenger had consented to the acts in question.

Tan had claimed that his passenger participated in some of the acts, and that she straddled and performed oral sex on him, in his statements to the police.

On the other hand, the prosecution's case is based on Tan knowing that the passenger was drunk and could not consent to the sexual acts.

What happened on the evening in question?

The passenger had gone drinking with two others at a bar in Seletar Aerospace Park, and remembers drinking around five glasses of beer throughout the night.

Tan picked her up from the bar in the early hours of May 19, 2018 after accepting a booking via Grab's ride-hailing platform.

A friend of the passenger, who helped to make the Grab booking, told him that the passenger was drunk — a conversation that was recorded on the in-car camera, the prosecution said.

The recording also captured the passenger sobbing throughout the car ride and Tan asking her what happened and whether she had just broken up.

However, she did not respond to his repeated questions.

The victim got out of the car at her residence but was unable to access its side gate and was brought back to the car by Tan, where the sexual acts took place.

CCTV footage from her residence, a condominium, shows the passenger entering the compound at around 4:12am and walking out a minute later.

Shortly after, she was found lying in the middle of the road without any clothes on her bottom half by a passer-by who was ending his Grab shift.

The passer-by returned home to fetch his wife before returning to the location, where they called the police and waited until an ambulance arrrived.

Did the passenger consent to the acts?

The prosecution said that Tan "must have known that she could not consent to any sexual activity with him", and that it would call on 32 witnesses to testify.

This includes a doctor at the Institute of Mental Health, who will be asked to give evidence on the degree of the passenger's intoxication at the time of the acts in question, and to testify that in his opinion, the passenger was not capable of consenting to sexual activity as she was significantly intoxicated.

He will also testify that the passenger's inability to remember the events that took place in the car "may indicate an alcohol blackout or that she was in deep sleep from the alcohol consumption", the prosecution said.

Also in the list of witnesses is an analyst from the Health Sciences Authority, who will give evidence that Tan's DNA was found on the inside of the passenger's left bra cup and that the interior front of her underwear tested positive for semen, and was found to contain Tan's DNA.

The prosecution also highlighted the conversation between Tan and the friend of the passenger's who had helped to book the Grab ride, where Tan was told that the passenger was drunk.

The friend and his then-girlfriend will be called on to testify that the passenger appeared tipsy, was crying, and could not walk straight before boarding the Grab ride.

A paramedic will also be called on to testify about the passenger's behaviour in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, and that she was crying and struggling when examined.

The prosecution also pointed out the fact that Tan admitted to the police in his statements that he did not ask the passenger for consent to the sexual acts, nor did she give consent.

Tan banned from Grab platform

In reply to media queries, a Grab spokesperson said that Tan has been banned from the Grab platform.

"Our users’ safety is important to us and we have zero tolerance for indecent behaviour, harassment or abuse of any kind," the spokesperson said.

"Users who have displayed indecent behaviour will be banned from the platform," they added.

Top image via Elton Yip on Google Maps