A 34-year-old man has been sentenced to 15 years’ jail and 14 strokes of the cane for raping a 12-year-old girl at a grass patch near Sixth Avenue MRT station.
Mookkapillai Pazhanivel, an Indian national who works as a labourer in Singapore, met the victim on the mobile chat app Telegram in April 2022.
Telegram Meet-up
On 17 Apr 2022, Mookkapillai received a message from the victim on his Telegram account “sweet sweet”. The girl told him she was 13 years old, though she was actually only 12.
Mookkapillai asked to meet her and said he wanted to perform a sexual act on her. The girl suggested meeting that day, but he was not able to.
The next day, Mookkapillai asked to meet the girl again. After going out for a facial with her mother, the victim texted him back in the evening asking if he was free.
He told her to meet him at Sixth Avenue MRT station. She lied to her mother that she was going shopping.
When the victim arrived, Mookkapillai directed her to an open grassy patch nearby, near Vanda Link. The two had sex there.
The victim later testified in court that the experience was “very uncomfortable” and painful. She said she “didn’t really feel anything at the time” but later felt “very dirty” because she felt that what she did was “not very right”.
After their meeting, Mookkapillai continued texting the victim despite her rejection of his advances. In September 2022, he used accounts under other pseudonyms to send her sexually explicit messages and ask her to meet up.
When the victim asked him for his name and age, he refused to divulge it. The girl eventually told her mother about the harassment on 8 Oct 2022, and they lodged a police report together the next day.
Arrested With Condoms and Climax Control Spray
The police were unable to trace Mookkapillai for about a year. He was eventually arrested on 21 Mar 2023 after the victim assisted police in arranging a meet-up with him.
He had two condoms and a bottle of climax control spray on his person during the arrest.
Mookkapillai faced 11 charges in total. His trial began in April 2025 for one count of rape and one count of sexual assault by penetration.
Prosecutors argued that Mookkapillai showed an “utter lack of remorse throughout the proceedings”. They said he resorted to victim-blaming and alleging mistreatment from the police.
Mookkapillai attempted to shift blame onto the victim, making disparaging remarks about her and alleging that he had not raped her. He made unfounded claims about an odour from her private parts and tried to use the tone of her text messages to portray her as a liar.
He also claimed that he would have “died” if he were held down for ten more seconds during his arrest. He said he did not eat for nine days while in custody.
This was contradicted by the police officers’ account and by evidence showing the dates and times when meals were given to him, said prosecutors.
Man Declares Hunger Strike During Rape Trial, Refuses to Admit Charges
On the fourth day of the trial, Mookkapillai declared he would go on a hunger strike until a defence lawyer was appointed for him. He persisted with the strike despite being warned that it could amount to contempt of court.
Prosecutors labelled it “nothing more than a stunt calculated to obstruct proceedings” and said he was “simply being difficult”. They pointed out that at the pre-trial stage, when asked by the court whether he required representation, Mookkapillai chose to remain unrepresented.
After being convicted on 29 Oct, Mookkapillai slumped over in his chair and refused to respond to a plea offer for nine other charges that were put on hold. These include eight charges of sexual offences against the same victim and one charge of criminal trespass.
When the court session resumed, Mookkapillai stood up and asked, “Why should I admit?”
In mitigation, Mookkapillai said that he did not want to admit to the charges as he did not commit the offences. He told the court that he sat down after being convicted because the outcome was unexpected and he felt giddy.
On the hunger strike, he said, “I have a habit of not eating since I was young. As I was under stress, I did not want to eat.”
High Court Judge Aidan Xu rejected his claims, stating that the defendant had taken advantage of a young girl to satisfy himself.
On 5 Dec 2025, Judge Xu sentenced Mookkapillai to 15 years’ jail and 14 strokes of the cane, which was the minimum sentence sought by the prosecution. Another trial will be held in the State Courts for the other nine charges.
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