Last year, a 46-year-old former Grab driver was accused of sexually assaulting and trying to rape a drunken 19-year-old passenger in his car.
The alleged victim’s lawyers claim that she was too intoxicated to consent to any sexual acts.
The man, Tan Yew Sin, now insists she consented and participated in the acts.
Ex-Grab Driver Accused of Rape Said He Thought The Victim Wanted Sex
Tan took the stand for the first time in the trial on 19 July 2021, and was led through the sequence of events by his defence laywer.
The incident took place in the early hours of 19 May 2018.
The Grab had been booked by a friend of the woman, who told Tan that she was drunk.
Tan said he didn’t think she was intoxicated because she was able to tell him her address.
Upon reaching her destination, the woman found that there was no one at the security guard post and she started crying.
Tan then moved his car as he did not want to block the driveway.
When the woman alighted and walked to the condo’s side gate, Tan followed her, claiming he felt “uncomfortable” leaving a girl alone late at night.
She couldn’t enter the condo, and so returned to the car, crying.
Some time later, Tan went to the back seat, where the woman was seated, to search her bag for her phone to call for help and and to look for her IC to check her address.
He claimed the woman then rested her head on his shoulder.
Tan managed to find her IC, and eventually returned it to her bag. He then looked up at her.
“The next thing I knew, we ended up kissing,” he said, adding that it wasn’t him who initiated the kiss.
“We just kissed and fondled, there was no conversation,” he said. “I thought she wanted sex.”
Tan claimed the woman had actively participated in the acts and also performed oral sex on him after they were “not successful in intercourse”.
He drove to another area to continue the acts, but said he stopped when the woman become less passionate.
He then drove around for 10 minutes before dropping her off at her condo.
Throughout this exchange with his defence lawyer, audio from footage recorded by the in-car camera was played in court.
At one point, Tan could be heard uttering an expletive, and when asked why he did so, explained that he was angry to be in such a situation.
“I’m trying to have sex with a stranger while my family is at home,” he said.
The Prosecution
The prosecution disagrees with Tan’s version of events, however.
They claim that the woman was not capable of giving consent to the sexual acts as she was severely intoxicated.
This was corroborated by Dr Christopher Cheok, a senior consultant at the Institute of Mental Health.
They claim that after she was picked up, the woman lay in the backseat and cried. Tan asked if she was going through a breakup, but the woman didn’t respond.
The man tried to have sex with her after later on in the backseat, but could not perform sexually.
Tan then drove to a more secluded area to continue the acts, but the woman pushed him away.
So, Tan drove her back to the condo, and let her in through the side-door. But instead of going home, the woman “inexplicably” went to the toilet near the swimming pool, left her things there, and walked out of the condo.
She was later found lying in the middle of the road some distance away.
The trial will resume next Thursday (29 July).
Featured Image: Yaoinlove / Shutterstock.com
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