Man harasses girl, 15, on Instagram, rapes her at HDB stairwell, gets 9.5 years' jail & caning

A man in Singapore repeatedly harassed a girl on Instagram, asking her to meet him.

Believing that doing so would put an end to the harassment, the girl, who was 15 years old at the time, eventually agreed.

However, he later raped her at a Housing and Development Board (HDB) block stairwell.

According to Shin Min Daily News, the offender, Muhammad Zulfihqul, now 24, was handed five charges, including that of rape, outrage of modesty and burglary.

He pleaded guilty to three of the charges on Sep. 29.

The judge, taking the remaining charges into consideration, sentenced him to nine years and six months' jail, as well as six strokes of the cane.

Kept harassing victim online

Citing court documents, Shin Min reported that on Jan. 3, 2023, the offender had followed the victim on Instagram, and proceeded to compliment her appearance and call her "darling".

Although the victim rejected his advances and told him that she already had a boyfriend, he persisted in asking her out.

Believing that meeting him might put an end to the harassment, the victim eventually agreed to do so.

Raped her at stairwell

According to Shin Min, the victim met the offender at an MRT station after school two days later on Jan. 5, 2023.

At his request, the two later proceeded to the stairwell on the 10th floor of a HDB block.

While sitting next to her, the offender began to kiss and touch the victim.

Though the victim tried to push him away several times, he persisted and continued to sexually assault her.

Screaming and crying, the victim started a WhatsApp group call with her friends.

One of them answered the call and heard her cries through the phone.

The victim eventually managed to push the offender off and quickly took the elevator down.

On her way out, she ran into a classmate and told the classmate that she had been raped.

The classmate then accompanied her to the bus stop near their school, where they met the victim's friend who had answered the call earlier.

Her friend then brought her back to school, where they informed their form teacher about what had happened and reported the incident to the police.

The offender was arrested that day and has remained in custody since.

Not offender's first run-in with law

The offender had previously molested a 14-year-old girl.

Citing court documents, Shin Min reported that the offender had met the girl through a friend in 2021 and asked her to meet him.

At around 4:30pm on Jul. 26, 2021, the girl brought her younger brother to meet the offender and they went to Hougang Mall together.

Shortly after, the offender asked the girl's brother to head home first, before taking the girl to the stairwell on the 15th floor of a HDB block to sexually assault her.

Even though the offender asked the girl for permission, he proceeded to kiss her and touch her regardless of her response.

The girl eventually stopped the offender and told him that she wanted to go home, and the two parted ways.

Offender's lawyer said crime not premeditated

The defence argued that the crime was not premeditated, claiming that the offender only made the decision to sexually assault the victim when they went to the stairwell, Shin Min reported.

The offender's lawyer further claimed that the offender's low intelligence contributed to his lack of maturity and poor judgement.

The prosecution, however, rejected this line of reasoning, saying that low intelligence did not impair the defendant's ability to understand his actions and could not be used as a valid reason to reduce his responsibility for the crime.

In delivering the verdict, the judge described the crime as "heinous", noting that the offender had raped a 15-year-old girl that he met for the first time and did not stop despite her screams and cries.

The judge stressed that his sentence must serve as a deterrent to such crimes.

Top photos via Canva, Mothership