Five men deny raping 17—year—old girl
SINGAPORE: What was supposed to be a supper date turned into an ordeal for a 17—year—old girl, who was allegedly gang—raped by five young men.
The girl, now 18, had agreed to have a meal with a man called "Jonathan" in December last year. Instead, she was taken to a flat in Woodlands, where the men took turns to rape and sexually assault her.
The accused — Muhammad Shafie bin Ahmad Abdullah, 19; Mohd Sadruddin bin Azman, 19; Lim Boon Tai, 20; Rishi Mohan, 17; and Mohamed Firdaus bin Roslan, 18 — have denied the charges and are likely to testify that the sex was consensual.
Shafie and Lim were full—time National Servicemen at the time of the offence, while Sadruddin and Firdaus were then waiting for their O—level results. Rishi, a Malaysian citizen, was a student at the Institute of Technical Education.
The morning after the alleged crime, the girl’s boyfriend called the police after she told him what happened. Four days later, the men were arrested.
In his opening statement, deputy public prosecutor Gordon Oh said on the evening of Dec 25 last year, the victim was on a bus to Woodlands bus interchange and on the way home, when a man calling himself "Jonathan" rang her and asked to have supper with her.
"Jonathan" did not turn up. Instead, a friend of the girl — who is one of the accused — arrived in a taxi to pick her up from Woodlands MRT station.
He brought her to a flat in Woodlands, where she was introduced to the other men. There, Lim introduced himself as Jonathan.
The victim joined four of the accused men in a card game where the loser had to drink a soft drink mixed with vodka.
She had more than five disposable plastic cups of the cocktail, Mr Oh said.
During another game, the victim — whose head was spinning from the alcohol by that point — refused to kiss Lim as a forfeit.
The games ended when someone knocked on the flat’s door. Thinking it was Shafie’s parents returning home, the group suggested that the victim and Lim hide in a room together.
In the room, Lim allegedly pushed the girl onto a mattress and made sexual advances. She resisted but with her head feeling heavy, gave in to him.
Later, while she was resting in Shafie’s room, the men allegedly entered, stripped her and took turns raping and sexually assaulting her.
Two psychiatrists will testify that the girl now suffers from post—traumatic stress disorder and has depressive symptoms, said Mr Oh.
In court on Tuesday, the men — three of them bespectacled — sat in the cramped dock. Few of their family members appeared to be in court, but they seemed relaxed and were seen smiling and talking to each other.
The trial continues on Wednesday.
[Taken from Yahoo News
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/cna/20091118/tap-913-five-men-deny-raping-17-year-old-231650b.html]
This is like so uber terrifying! And the five guys are so super bastard!! Don't know what to comment about the girl though... Why did she even go/go get drunk at their house!! Ok, I should not make negative internal attribution about the victim......
Seriously, I can't imagine how long she'll take to recover. Really super suay.. And those five guys are really super super super bastard, still happily denying!! =( I hope they get charged!! If they go scott-free, the girl will seriously be even more depressed lah.
Omg omg. I can't believe such a thing happened to such a young girl, really very poor thing.
Hai. Ugly ugly world.
wah this is like so long ago. 1 year already now then trial. -_-
ReplyDelete-ernie
seriously, we never know what actually happened.
ReplyDeletesometimes, the victim has herself to be blamed for putting herself in such a situation. and very often, sympathy towards the victim reduces their ownership of responsibility
jul: i agree with you! one of my very first thought was that she kind of 'invited' trouble upon herself.
ReplyDeletebut on second thoughts, nobody deserves such trauma inflicted upon her, isn't it? as much as teaching her ownership of responsibility, i feel that it is just as important to work on the more immediate trauma she has suffered by lowering her self-blame and first removing the "source" of her trauma. which i see it as the 5 boys, who are too complacent and ill at ease about the gravity of the crime they have committed. if they are not punished, they will forever be there to remind the victim of the shame. if she continues to see them as a threat and a reminder of the pain she has suffered, it's unlikely that she would ever feel better to learn her lessons of ownership of responsibility, right?
haha and of coz i'm not to judge how much of it is part of her own doings lah. but that was the instinctive feeling i got from reading the news~
:p
ernie: haha i didn't even noticed the date! =x anyway, the court got too many case to handle liao! :p they always drag very long before bringing the matter to court de leh. ahaa. or maybe it's very serious need time to investigate ba (: