Woman awarded over S$53,000 in damages in civil suit against ex-Mindef colleague who sexually assaulted her

A woman and a man who had an on-and-off relationship for over two years met again in court nine years later as claimant and defendant.

The woman filed a civil suit against the man for battery, seeking compensation for damages caused after the man sexually assaulted her.

She did so as the police did not take further action against the man, following the filing of a report in 2021, according to a judgment dated May 23, 2025.

The woman was eventually awarded S$45,000 in general damages, and S$8,697.39 in special damages, both with interest.

Colleagues at Mindef

The woman first met the man sometime in 2015 as colleagues at the Defence Policy Office (DPO) under the Ministry of Defence (Mindef).

According to the woman, she and the man entered a romantic relationship sometime in June 2015.

Between April 2015 and December 2015, they were sexually intimate with each other.

While the man wanted to be open about their relationship, the woman wanted to keep it a secret as she had concerns about how other colleagues would perceive it.

As tensions rose over this issue, the woman eventually ended the relationship in December 2015, despite still having feelings for each other.

They remained friends afterwards and continued to hang out together.

Day of incident

On Jul. 10, 2016, the woman and the man shared a taxi ride home after a night out with their colleagues.

On the ride home, they became physically intimate as they started to make out in the taxi.

At some point during the taxi ride, the woman invited the man over to her place to engage in sex.

Later in her home, the woman sobered up while she was showering and realised that she did not want to revisit their past romantic relationship or give the man hope that they were going to get back together.

She exited the bathroom and told him: “You should go home. This isn’t happening.”

However, the man refused to leave and pleaded with her to get back into a relationship.

A back-and-forth of questions ensued for about 10 minutes, with the woman eventually feeling exasperated and going to her bed, telling the man to see himself out.

The woman said she then laid on her right side with her back facing him to indicate that she was done speaking with him and that she wanted him to leave immediately.

Forced himself on her

However, instead of leaving, the man continued to plead with her.

In a matter of seconds, he removed his shirt and pants and climbed into her bed.

Before she could react, he forcefully wrapped his arms around her from behind and restrained her physically.

She struggled to push away his arms and was unable to get free, the woman said.

The man proceeded to use his left hand and reached into her pyjama shorts, digitally penetrating her without her consent.

"In a state of immense shock and outrage, she pushed the defendant’s hand away with her left hand that became free, pushed him off her, sat up and demanded that he leave immediately," the judgement said.

The man scoffed, but eventually left after slamming the front door.

He came back a few moments later to retrieve the belongings he had left behind in the living room and stormed out of the front door again.

Woman blamed herself

After the man left, the woman texted the man to apologise.

She explained that she had done so "instinctively" and tried to converse to de-escalate any tensions and return the relationship between them to normalcy.

She claimed that it did not occur to her that she was sexually assaulted and had instead felt responsible for hurting his feelings and blamed herself for provoking him.

They continued their friendship until mid-2017 when she became exposed to the rise of the “Me Too” movement, a global social movement against sexual violence.

As she read about the stories of various survivors of sexual violence, she said she came to the sudden realisation that she had been sexually assaulted by the man that day.

She eventually confided in some of her friends and colleagues on various occasions about what transpired that night.

However, she stated that the silence from some of her friends felt like an affirmation that she was to be blamed for what the man had done to her.

Reporting to police

On Mar. 2, 2021, the woman wrote an email to the senior management of Mindef mentioning “three unpleasant encounters”.

The judgement also noted that a "senior colleague had touched her buttocks" at a party six months prior to her sending this email.

She was strongly encouraged to file a police report and she did so on Mar. 26.

On Feb. 28, 2022, the woman was informed that the police decided not to take further action against the man.

She then sought legal advice and commenced the civil suit on Jul. 7, 2022.

Man does not remember event

In his defence, the man said he and the woman were in a complicated on-and-off romantic relationship by May 2015.

He said he only ended his romantic interest in her in or around October 2016 after he found out that he was merely someone she would "turn to whenever she was bored".

On the incident in question, the man claimed he could not recall the exact events that transpired when they were at her place, such as whether they had sexual relations or anything of similar nature.

In particular, he could not recall whether he had hugged her from behind and used his left hand to digitally penetrate her.

The man claimed that the woman's attitude towards him and interactions with him after that day were "nothing out of the ordinary".

They continued to communicate and interact on friendly and cordial terms, some of which were of a sexually intimate nature or initiated by the woman.

On one occasion in September 2016, the woman also invited him to spend the night at her place and greeted him dressed only in her undergarments, he said.

Awarded claims

The district judge found the man's inability to recall to be lacking in credibility.

Meanwhile, she said the woman’s recollection of the events was cogent and convincing.

"It was corroborated by the contemporaneous text messages exchanged between the parties," the judge said.

A strong thread of consistency also ran through her textured accounts to her friends, who she penned letters describing the assault, which were congruent with her testimony in court.

When considering the quantum of damages, however, the judge did not award the woman all her claims.

She said the woman failed to prove on a balance of probabilities that her loss of earnings during a period of unemployment after leaving Mindef from April 2021 to January 2022 was caused by the man's act of battery.

The woman was eventually awarded general damages assessed in the sum of S$45,000 plus interest.

This includes S$25,000 in compensation for pain and suffering and S$20,000 for punitive damages.

She was also awarded S$8,697.39 in special damages plus interest for medical and related expenses.

Mindef's statement

In a statement, Mindef said it “had promptly commenced an investigation when the complainant formally surfaced the allegations”.

After investigation, they decided to refer the matter to the police due to the "serious nature of some of the allegations"

"Mindef extended support to the complainant during the period of the police investigations,” it said.

The ministry added that it is committed to creating a work environment that is respectful and safe for all its personnel.

"Mindef has zero tolerance for workplace harassment and sexual misconduct. All allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct at the workplace will be investigated.”

Top photo from Canva