Man Wants To Withdraw Guilty Plea For Raping Drunk Girl At Foot Of Pasir Ris Block

Certain things happen to you after committing a crime.

You’re (likely) found guilty, maybe you get a defence lawyer or two to help and then probably end up with a sentence anyway.

Shouldn’t have done the crime in the first place, dude. Unless you’re an NUS student with a good GPA.

It’s not too often that people attempt to retract their guilty pleas, especially if they’re on a one-way trip to getting charged already.

Not the guy in today’s story, though.

Retracting His Pleas

What can I say besides, “He tried.”

According to Channel News Asia, a 21-year-old man who pleaded guilty to raping a drunk teen in October wants to retract his plea of guilt.

He initially pleaded guilty to raping the 15-year-old victim on 31 October 2019.

Over a rather frisky game of truth and dare, no less.

Why he would invite an underage girl to drink and participate is beyond me.

An accomplice had also attempted to rape the victim the same day as the incident but failed.

So let me get this straight.

Not only did the accused rape her but tried to help his buddy get in on it too?

Pretty disgusting if you ask me.

But at least he has lawyers to maybe try and cover his behind, right?

Well…he did.

Releasing Themselves From Case

Because some people have the audacity to hit advanced silliness.

On 2 December, his lawyers Marcus Tai and Roy Sze told the high court they would be releasing themselves from the case.

The reason? Neither of them has been paid.

Mr Tai did mention that the man intended to appoint council for retracting his pleas before entering a defence.

“Unfortunately, I have to inform this court that we have not been paid for this matter.”

The accused definitely gets a ‘D’ for his efforts.

He even wrote a letter to the judge which also was also disregarded as a defence.

The plea of guilt will still stand while the man is given a month to find new lawyers.

Which is extremely strange since he couldn’t even pay the first set of lawyers.

On a softer note, the accused did ask for time as he also had to care for his grandmother, who is in poor health.

The penalty for rape is a maximum of 20 years’ jail, a fine, or caning. The case of the second co-accused, who had wanted to rape the victim as well, is pending.

Rape is extremely serious, minor or not, and no one should ever attempt to commit such atrocities.

Also if you’re going to hire defence, at least make sure you have the money, please.