After developing romantic feelings for a female friend from secondary school, a 20-year-old man pretended to be a temple medium, and convinced the woman that there were spirits following her and her sister.

Against her wishes, he sexually penetrated and raped the then-22-year-old victim — under the pretense of performing cleansing rituals to "get rid of the ghosts".

The victim was later assessed to have average to below average functioning IQ and overall adaptive skills, based on an IMH report.

On Sep. 7, the man pleaded guilty to one charge of sexual assault by penetration and two charges of rape, and was sentenced to 18 years, 11 months and three weeks' jail, along with 16 strokes of the cane.

Four other charges, relating to his offences in 2019, were taken into consideration for the sentencing.

The accused and his victim cannot be named due to a court-ordered gag.

Background

Based on court documents, the man, who was 23 at the time of sentencing, first knew the victim in secondary school.

She would address him as "kor" (meaning elder brother in English) even though he was younger than her.

The two later drifted apart.

Sometime in mid-2019, he contacted her via Facebook and they rekindled their friendship.

He started driving her to and from work, and would go for dinner together with her and another friend.

At some point, he developed romantic feelings for her.

However, she did not reciprocate these feelings as she was still interested in her ex-boyfriend.

The deception

The man told the victim that he had been helping out as a temple medium, and claimed to be a God of "Chang E's Rabbit".

He also brought her to the said temple on a few occasions.

On Jul. 21, 2019, while at her home, he told her that there were spirits following her and her sister, and that some of the ghosts were in the house itself.

However, he assured her that he could perform consecration rituals to "get rid of the ghosts", so that the victim and her sister would not be harmed.

To keep up the lie, he also provided her with amulets and talismans that he had prepared.

As part of these rituals, he would chant prayers and draw talismans on her body using his finger.

He first performed these rituals with the victim fully clothed, but later convinced her that she needed to take off her clothes so he could "consecrate her entire body".

Sexually assaulted her

The man subsequently committed sexual offences against the victim under the pretext of such rituals, between Jul. 22 and Jul. 27.

He touched her naked body and penetrated her with his finger on Jul. 23.

On two occasions, Jul. 25 and Jul. 27, he also raped her.

Prior to being raped, the victim was reluctant and told him she was in pain, but the man convinced her that "sex was necessary as part of the consecration ritual".

He also tried to impregnate her, so that she would have his child and be forced to remain with him.

Victim lodged police report on friends' advice

After the rape on Jul. 27, 2019, the victim told her friends about the "consecration rituals" and what the man had done to her.

They advised her to report him to the police, so she lodged a police report on Jul. 29.

Prosecution statement

The prosecution asked for a deterrent sentence of 17 to 23 years' imprisonment, along with 16 strokes of the cane, citing the "calculated and premeditated" nature of the man's deception, and the vulnerability of the victim as aggravating factors.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sruthi Boppana submitted that the accused had "spun an elaborate tale" about his supposed identity as a medium or a "God of “Chang E’s Rabbit”, deceiving the victim on multiple occasions.

Additionally, he argued that "by virtue of the victim’s below average range of functioning, she too was defenceless against falsehoods the accused had spun".

"The accused had no qualms about capitalising on the victim’s naiveté and deceiving her into believing that he needed to perform these sexual acts to prevent harm from befalling her or her sister," Boppana wrote.

The prosecution also pointed out that the man had abused a relationship of trust as part of his offences, as he represented himself to be a spiritual leader, and was also considered as an elder brother by the victim.

In addition, the prosecution asserted that by violating the victim without a condom and trying to impregnate her, the man exposed her to the risk of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, despite knowing she had "no intention or interest to be with him, let alone in being impregnated by him through this ruse".

Top image from lalesh aldarwish / Pexels