S’pore Lady Sexually Assaulted By 5 Men While Drunk At B’day Party

Consensual sex is one thing.

‘Consensual’ sex, however, is quite another.

Unfortunately, for this 23-year-old woman, it was a case of the latter.

Five years ago, she was ruthlessly ravaged by five men at a birthday party while drunk and unconscious. Though if there’s any consolation…

It would be that the perpetrators are now being dealt with in the face of justice, not unlike some guy in NUS.

What happened?

According to Channel NewsAsia, the traumatic experience occurred 5 years ago at a birthday party when the victim was 18 years old.

The woman, whose identity is protected by a gag order, allegedly did not know any of her assailants when she arrived at the now-defunct Duxton Hotel on 26 Jan 2014.

It was revealed that one of the men, Muhammad Fadly Abdull Wahab, made her drink throughout the night until she blacked out.

Unconscious and vulnerable, it was then that the five men sexually assaulted and raped the victim.

Pure agony

The next morning, the victim felt that “something bad had happened to her while she was unconscious” after she left the hotel, the prosecution said.

When she woke up, she felt pain in her private parts which persisted for almost 10 hours. And if that isn’t scary enough, she urinated blood as well.

She told her friends that she might have been “raped by a lot of guys”.

Upon reaching home, the victim locked herself in the bedroom, stuffing her face into a pillow and allegedly screaming.

She only made a police report two days after the incident.

She was “concerned about her dignity and the embarrassment of having to inform the police all the details of what happened to her”.

Arguments by the men dismissed

On 23 April, three of the perpetrators, Ridhaudin Ridhwan Bakri, Muhammad Faris Ramlee and Asep Ardiansyah, were jointly tried for charges ranging from rape to sexual assault by penetration.

In court, Justice Woo Bih Li convicted Ridhwan of one charge each of rape, sexual assault by penetration and molestation.

Faris, on the other hand, was convicted of a rape charge, but acquitted of another charge of sexual penetration as it was unclear whether it had been him and not Ridhwan who had assaulted the victim in that instance.

Asep was convicted of both sexual assault by penetration and another charge of attempted rape.

While the three men did not deny the alleged sexual acts with the victim that day, they argued that she had consented, or that they mistakenly perceived her as consenting.

In response, the prosecution argued that the victim was in a state that she was not able to consent.

Conspiring To Bluff Their Way Out

Also, that fact that Ridhwan had conspired with Asep and Faris to deny the acts in the first place, and the fact that Ridhwan changed his story in his later statement, served to rule the court in the victim’s favour.

The judge, however, stated that he was aware of the risks and inaccuracies of Asep’s underlying premise that “there should be a single mould of how a victim of sexual abuse should act”.

Punishments

The three men will be sentenced at a later date. According to Channel NewsAsia, the maximum punishment for rape and sexual assault by penetration is both 20 years’ jail and a fine or caning.

As for the other two men involved in the sexual assault, Muhammad Fadly Abdull Wahab, 20 and Muhammad Hazly Mohamad Halimi, 23, they have been sentenced to 13 years’ jail and eight strokes of the cane, and 11 years’ jail and six strokes of the cane respectively.

But all these, while serving as a consolation, won’t be able to make up for the trauma felt by the victim.

So ladies, remember, when going to any parties, always make sure to take care of yourself, or even better, don’t go alone.