Man Sentenced to Jail With 3 Strokes of the Cane for Molesting Fellow Student in SMU

By
Tan Shi Hui
-

They say the eyes of the darkness reveal people for who they are.

Normally people like to add a few bottles of liquid gold into the mix to expedite the process but in this case, that is not needed.

Man Sentenced to Jail With 3 Strokes of the Cane for Molesting Fellow Student in SMU

A 25-year-old man, Lee Yan Ru, was found guilty of molesting a woman on Singapore Management University (SMU) campus in 2019. He was accused of rubbing his genitals against the woman’s chest while she was sleeping in the campus’ study room.

Lee defended himself, saying that that act was “consensual” despite the woman being asleep when he started performing the sexual act on her.

She also rejected his advances the entire time they were studying together.

Lee Claimed That The Victim Was a Liar

Lee pointed at the woman’s social media account and painted the woman to be a good liar.

However, District Judge Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz found the victim to be a truthful witness with “cogent and reliable” evidence.

In contrast, she found Lee’s statement of their “purported mood between the parties and their growing intimacy” to be “contrived”.

Wait, What Happened?

In case you are unsure of what went on two years ago, here’s a quick summary:

Lee met the victim on Instagram around Dec 2018. They had mutual friends but she was not a student of SMU.

After almost a few weeks of knowing each other, Lee and the woman met up on 8 Jan 2019 outside SMU’s School of Economics and Social Sciences at around 1am to study together.

They went into a classroom for their study session. When they were in the room, Lee made several advances towards the woman including placing his foot on her thigh, kissing her and even touching her breast.

Despite the woman rejecting him, like asking him to go away, pushing him away and stopping his actions, Lee still pursued her.

It must have been opposite day, for when Lee heard the wor”d “stop” from the victim, he understood it as “please carry on what you’re doing.

He even thought she was “fine” with his advances and that she was “coy”.

He felt that she was getting more comfortable with his intimate advances throughout the night.

Thus, when the pair decided to sleep in separate parts of the study room at around 6.30am, Lee took it as a signal to rub his magic wand on her chest.

He ejaculated in under 10 seconds. Lee took some tissue paper to wipe her. The police were alerted at 6.37am.

Lee’s body fluid was found in the tissue paper and on the woman’s neck and face by the Health Sciences Authority’s DNA Profiling Laboratory.

Why Didn’t the Victim Leave?

When asked this question during the trial, the victim told her that she did not want to make him feel bad or leave a bad impression. She did not want to make things “hostile”.

Due to that, the defence argument said that the victim’s failure to leave during the night undermined her credibility.

The judge disagreed, stating that different people have different reactions to sexual assault. There is no typical victim and no typical sex offender.

The judge touches on how consent is always required during any sexual interaction: something that Lee only gave himself.

Sentenced to 10 Months Jail and 3 Strokes of Cane

Today (25 Oct), he was sentenced to 10 months’ jail and three strokes of cane despite the defence asking for not more than six months jail or probation.

Lee could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, caned or all of the above. He intends to file an appeal.

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Tan Shi Hui
Email: [email protected]