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A 47-year-old former Grab driver in Singapore was on April 27 found not guilty of the attempted rape of an intoxicated 19-year-old passenger in the early hours of May 19, 2018.
Tan Yew Sin, 47, was acquitted by High Court judge Pang Khang Chau of three charges -- attempted rape, sexual assault by penetration, and outrage of modesty, CNA and The Straits Times reported.
The prosecution failed to secure a conviction after the accused claimed trial to contest the charges that took place in his car, a Kia Carens.
What happened
In the wee hours that morning, Tan accepted a booking to take the young woman from Wildseed Bar at Seletar Aerospace Park to her home.
The sexual acts occurred in the car after they had reached the passenger's home.
The woman's identity is protected by gag order.
During trial, Tan testified that he thought the woman wanted sex.
The judge subsequently ruled that she was able to give consent, or at least, the accused reasonably believed she was able to.
Sequence of events as heard by the court
At trial in July 2021, the court heard Tan give his testimony as he was led by his lawyer through the sequence of events that morning.
His testimony was accompanied by audio from footage recorded by his in-car camera.
Before the start of the ride, a friend of the woman who booked Tan's Grab car told him the passenger was drunk.
However, Tan said the woman was able to tell him her address so he did not think she was drunk.
He said the woman started crying when she reached her destination, a condominium home, but the security post was empty.
He then moved his car to avoid blocking the driveway.
The woman got out of the car and walked to the side gate.
Tan followed her.
He said in court: "It's late at night, she's a girl, I felt uncomfortable leaving her alone."
The two then returned to the car after the woman failed to enter the premises and she became upset.
Both ended up in back seat
Back in the car, the woman started crying.
Tan then moved to the back seat to look for her mobile phone in her bag to call for help.
He was also trying to find her identity card to figure out her address to help her gain access into the condominium.
Tan testified that the woman then rested her head on his shoulder.
He ended up finding her identity card but not her phone.
Sexual encounter began after this point
After putting the card back in her bag, he turned around and looked at her.
He said: "The next thing I knew, we ended up kissing."
He told his lawyer that he was not the one who initiated getting intimate.
Tan said the woman reciprocated as they kissed and touched each other and he said in court that she was "very much involved".
He said they were "not successful in intercourse" and she then performed oral sex on him.
Tan then drove to another area to continue to engage in the sexual activities.
But he stopped when the woman became less passionate, he claimed.
He then dropped her off at her home after driving around for 10 minutes.
Tan, at one point, blurted out an expletive that morning, and was asked by his lawyer to explain himself.
Tan said he was angry with himself at that time for getting into such a situation.
"I'm trying to have sex with a stranger while my family is at home," he explained.
Woman found by another Grab driver
The woman did not go home after she was dropped off.
For reasons that were not specified, she was later found by another Grab driver at about 4.40am lying in the middle of the road with her underwear and shorts missing.
How judge came to his acquittal finding
Justice Pang's acquittal verdict stemmed from his judgement that the woman had the capacity for consent and demonstrated this in her behaviour throughout the night even though she was intoxicated.
Tan could also reasonably have been mistaken that the woman was able to consent, the judge also found.
The prosecution's case was that the woman did not give consent and was so intoxicated that she would not have been able to.
Tan admitted to the sexual encounter during trial, but argued that it was consensual.
Did woman lose capacity to understand consequences?
Justice Pang said the question to be decided was whether the woman lost the capacity to "understand and decide" on her actions that morning, CNA reported.
The judge cited a number of instances when the woman demonstrated the capacity to do so based on her actions at multiple points during the night, ST reported.
For example, she repeatedly rejected a friend's offer to drive her home, which showed she could look beyond her immediate needs.
Subsequently, when she reached her destination, she was able to search for her wallet to pay the driver.
And when she told Tan she was okay at her condominium gate, she was aware of her surroundings.
The woman was also able to respond to Tan when he told her to stop hitting her own chest with her fist and banging her head on the window.
Even after the sexual acts, the woman told Tan she was okay after he asked her if she was.
She replied "yes" and even asked him to continue driving, ST also reported.
Judge relied on accused's consistent testimony
CNA reported that Justice Pang also agreed with the defence's secondary argument that Tan could have been mistaken and held the reasonable belief that the woman was able to consent even when she was unable to.
The judge was also made to rely largely on the credibility of Tan's testimony for his assessment of whether there was consent.
This was so as the woman was unable to recall the sexual encounter and could not give evidence as to whether she consented, CNA reported.
Justice Pang also added that the accused's version of events had been consistent since his first police statement after his arrest, both CNA and ST reported.
He could not have known that the woman was unable to recall what happened back then, the judge added.
The judge said even though the woman had consumed five pints of beer that night and was intoxicated, her lack of capacity for consent cannot be established from this fact alone, according to CNA.
He said she was required to have been unable to understand the nature and consequence of what she was consenting to due to intoxication to demonstrate a lack of capacity for consent.
CNA reported that the judge also said drinking a substantial amount of alcohol or behaving unusually did not indicate a lack of capacity for consent, and also that the inability to form memories due to alcohol intoxication did not mean the woman was unable to perform cognitive functions.
ST further reported that the judge said Tan genuinely believed the woman had the capacity to consent.
Justice Pang noted that the audio recording captured Tan telling her, "I can't put it in".
Sounds of shuffling followed.
"This statement must have been made because the accused believed that the complainant was able to understand what he was saying, and react accordingly and appropriately in a consensual manner to what he said," the judge said, according to ST.
Wants life back
CNA reported Tan's lawyer saying after the trial that his client just wants his life back now.
For attempted rape or sexual assault by penetration, those convicted can be jailed for up to 20 years, fined or caned
For outrage of modesty, those convicted can be jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or given any combination of these punishments.