A South Korean man, 51, attempted to rape an exchange student who fell asleep at the poolside of their serviced apartment compound where they both stayed in Singapore.

The accused, Cho Tae Kwon, was sentenced to eight years and four-and-a-half months' jail on May 13, after pleading guilty to one charge of molest and another charge of attempted rape.

Two other charges for molest were taken into consideration.

At the time of the offence, Cho was 49 years old and was working as an engineer in Singapore.

The victim and Cho were strangers.

A gag order was placed on the victim’s identity and the location of the offence.

Victim headed to the pool area for some privacy

The then-25-year-old victim was a Swedish exchange student at the National University of Singapore.

On the evening of Sep. 9, 2022, the victim had gone clubbing with her flatmates and initially returned back to her unit.

Wanting some privacy to call her boyfriend who lived in Sweden, she left the unit to buy some groceries at around 3:14am on Sep. 10, 2022, and eventually headed to the pool area.

After the call ended, the victim felt tired and fell asleep on the couch at approximately 3:51am.

Cho left his unit around 4:24am and noticed the victim asleep on the couch, having gone to his neighbouring colleagues' unit prior to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival with dinner and drinks.

He proceeded to molest the victim after she did not respond to his touch at approximately 4:27am, touching her buttocks, thighs and waist.

The prosecutors said Cho then attempted to rape the victim for six minutes, but did not succeed.

During this time, the victim woke up but was still groggy and under the influence of alcohol.

"She had no strength to resist the accused who laid on top of her and straddled himself between her legs," said the prosecutor.

Cho then forcefully kiss the victim at around 4:42am, where the victim started to regain her consciousness and was shocked to find the accused lying on top of her.

The victim began resisting the assault and told Cho to "stop" several times.

During the scuffle, both Cho and the victim fell off the couch and onto the ground.

The victim then took her personal belongings, as well as Cho's shorts in her haste to get away from the accused, at around 4:44am.

Cho wore his underwear and went back to his unit to retrieve a pair of shorts, before taking the lift back down to the pool area at around 4:54am.

He then headed to the level of the residence which the victim stayed at.

"Unable to find the victim, the accused decided to return to the ninth level before heading back to the pool area to smoke," said the prosecutor.

Cho then returned to his unit at about 5:08am.

The victim woke up that morning around 11am, where she knew that something had happened her but could not remember the precise details.

She confided in her flatmates, saying she had been sexually assaulted by an Asian male after falling asleep on the couch at the pool area.

The victim and her friends then alerted a guest service officer at the residence, who reviewed the CCTV footage.

The officer informed the victim that something “awful” had happened to her and reported the case to the police.

Sentencing

"It is tragic that a young woman was senselessly violated in a place where she should have felt safe and secure," said the prosecutors.

The prosecutors sought no less than eight to nine years’ imprisonment and four-and-a-half months’ imprisonment in lieu of caning.

Cho cannot be caned as he is above 50 years old.

For attempted rape, an offender can be jailed for up to 20 years and fined, or caned.

For molest, an offender can be jailed up to three years, fined, caned, or a combination of the penalties.

Top image via Google Maps.