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A 19-year-old man pleaded guilty in court on Monday (Mar. 20) to one count of abetment by intentionally helping a 20-year-old man to commit rape.
Due to a gag order protecting the victim's identity, the names of the accused, co-accused and victim cannot be revealed.
The 19-year-old, identified as A1 in court documents, had carried his drunk colleague, a 23-year-old woman, into a hotel bathroom.
In the hotel bathroom, the 20-year-old man, known as A2 in the court documents, raped the victim while she was unconscious and unresponsive.
Colleague was interested in the victim
A1, A2, and the victim were colleagues working in the same warehouse at the time of the offence.
A2 found the victim attractive and was interested in her despite her being married.
On Nov. 28, 2021, the trio met up with six other colleagues at Lau Pa Sat to have dinner and then eight of them decided to head to a room in Hotel Royal for drinks, which A1 and A2 had booked earlier in the day.
As the maximum number of people that could gather due to prevailing Covid-19 safe management measures was five at that time, they went to the hotel in two separate Grab cars and went up to the room in groups of four.
At about midnight, the hotel concierge called the room to tell the group that they were in breach of Covid-19 regulations and three people would have to leave the room.
By 2am, two people had left and there were six people left in the room -- which was one more pax than allowed.
After a female colleague, B1, passed her a final shot of Chivas, the drunk victim passed out on the bed and fell asleep.
Offered to help carry victim into toilet
A1, who didn't drink any alcohol, saw A2 hugging the victim and offered to carry her into the toilet, knowing that A2 intended to have sex with her.
After A1 left the victim in the toilet, A2 raped the victim, who was unconscious.
Asked to "share" victim but was rejected
A1, who was outside the toilet, heard the victim "coughing and gagging" and knocked on the toilet door, asking A2 if he could "share" the victim. A2 declined.
After the rape, A2 washed the victim and helped her wear her clothes. A2 then carried her onto the bed before going to sleep himself.
In the morning, when they woke up, A2 told A1 and B1 that he had sex with the victim.
Agreed to help to cover up with lies
They agreed that they would lie to the victim when she woke up and that she followed A2 into the toilet herself.
When the victim woke up, she heard the trio talking about her and pretended to stay asleep.
She heard B1 tell A1 and A2 to cover for her since she had "given chance" with the victim already.
A1 also said the victim was "very heavy" when he carried her, even though she looked small.
After about 40 minutes, the victim decided to get out of bed and go to the toilet.
She suspected she had been raped when she felt pain in her genital area.
B1 then entered the toilet to smoke, where the victim asked who had raped her.
B1 pretended that she didn't know and said she was sleeping.
The six of them in the room decided to order breakfast. A hotel staff came up to the room and saw that there were six people in the room and gave them 30 minutes to leave.
They took the delivery to eat nearby, and the victim went home by herself.
Colleague confessed to his actions
After the group returned home, A2 messaged the victim to apologise for taking advantage of her, and asked if she was okay.
A2 told the victim that she had gotten out of bed and followed him into the toilet.
The victim replied that A2's story sounded wrong.
Several colleagues also reached out to the victim as they were concerned about her well-being, but she did not reply to them.
She was embarrassed as she suspected that she had been sexually assaulted by A2 and was worried that A2 might have filmed the assault.
The following day, she resigned from her job.
A2 tried to talk to the victim, but the victim avoided him.
Husband urged victim to lodge police report
On the night of her resignation, the victim's husband tried to initiate intimacy with her, but she reacted with shock. Her husband felt something was not right and asked her what had happened.
She told him she suspected that A2 had sexually assaulted her while she was passed out drunk.
Her husband convinced her to lodge a police report, which she did on Dec. 3, 2021.
Judge called for Reformative Training report
The prosecution urged the court to call for a report to assess A1's suitability for Reformative Training and reserve their position on sentence until after A1 has been assessed.
"While the accused is untraced and 18 years of age during the commission of the offence, given the seriousness of the offence in question, a measure of deterrence is required together with rehabilitation as the main sentencing consideration," the prosecution submitted.
The District Court judge agreed to call for the report and adjourned sentencing to a later date.
Top photo via Mothership