A trial began on Monday, 21 Apr 2025, for a man accused of sexually assaulting and raping a young girl after the victim’s mother learned of the crime when reporting harassment to police.
The accused, 33-year-old Indian national Murugan Karuppiah (name transliterated from Mandarin), faces one count of sexual assault and one count of rape.
The charges allege that on 18 Apr 2022, he raped and sexually assaulted a girl on a grass patch near Vanda Road, close to Sixth Avenue MRT station.
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The victim was only 12 years old at the time of the incident.
Karuppiah has pleaded not guilty as the trial opened in the High Court.
Initial Contact and Assault
During opening statements, prosecutors revealed that the accused contacted the victim through his Telegram account.
Despite the victim telling him she was 13, he invited her to meet and told her he wanted to do indecent acts with her.
On 18 Apr 2022, the accused arranged to meet the victim at Exit B of the Sixth Avenue MRT station.
They met at 8:00 PM that evening, after which he took her to the location where he allegedly sexually assaulted and raped her.
According to prosecutors, the accused sent multiple messages to the victim afterwards, asking to meet again, but she did not respond.
In the days that followed, the victim received obscene messages from unknown persons requesting meetings, which she believed came from the accused’s other accounts. She blocked these accounts.
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On 29 Sep that same year, the victim received another message from an unknown person who claimed they would stop harassing her if she met them “one last time.”
On 5 Oct, the person threatened to harass her friends if she did not reply.
Mother’s Testimony and Arrest
The victim, disturbed by the harassment, told her mother about it on 8 Oct and filed a police report the next day.
When testifying on Monday, the mother said she had initially taken her daughter to the police station because of harassment, not knowing her daughter had been sexually assaulted.
She revealed that on the day of the incident, they had gone to a beauty salon together.
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After her daughter finished her facial treatment, she said she wanted to go shopping while her mother completed her treatment.
When the mother called later, the daughter said she wanted to shop more and would return home by herself.
When the daughter returned home that night, the mother noticed she looked pale. When asked what was wrong, she said nothing and went to her room.
On 20 Jan 2023, the mother asked her daughter if she was still being harassed. The daughter showed her phone to her mother, indicating that the harasser had sent her sex videos and wanted to meet her.
The mother notified investigators and took her daughter back to the police station. Police asked the victim to arrange a meeting with the harasser on 21 Mar 2023 at the Sixth Avenue MRT station.
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That evening, the victim left the police station with officers, who arrested the accused at the meeting point.
An investigator testified on Monday that the accused had two condoms on him when arrested, and police also seized his phone.
The trial is ongoing.
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