Female culprit accused of violating victim with sex toy

SINGAPORE - In what is believed to be the first case of its kind, a woman accused of using a sex toy to abuse a girl, beginning when she was just 13, was charged with 26 more offences yesterday.

Zunika Ahmad, 37, was first brought to court in March on a sexual penetration charge.

She was then remanded for psychiatric assessment, and was subsequently found fit to plead.

Of the 26 charges tendered yesterday, 15 are similar in nature in that she is accused of using a dildo to commit the offence with the girl's consent at a flat in Sengkang.

She is also said to have committed an obscene act with the girl some time in February 2012, about a month before the first alleged sexual offence.

Zunika is said to have committed further acts of violation on the girl, then 14, five times during the second half of last year.

She is also accused of slapping the girl, who is now 15, on March 21 this year.

In a case involving another child, who also cannot be named because she is a minor, Zunika allegedly allowed a false entry to be made in the child's birth certificate by stating that an Indonesian national was her father, while knowing this to be false.

The alleged offence occurred 121/2 years ago at the Registry of Births and Deaths.

She is said to have used a forged passport of the Indonesian, purportedly issued by the government of Indonesia, at the Tuas Immigration checkpoint on Feb 14, 2002.

The document was allegedly used again at the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal on March 20 the same year, and twice at the Singapore Cruise Centre the following year.

A High Court pre-trial conference is scheduled for next Tuesday for the sexual offences.

Zunika is represented by Ms N. Sudha Nair who, together with the prosecution, applied for the gag order on the child.

The accused had her $60,000 bail extended, and will appear in court again on Dec 2.

If convicted of sexually penetrating a person under 14, she could be jailed for up to 20 years and fined on each charge.

For a victim below 16, the penalty is 10 years' jail and a fine on each charge.

The maximum penalty for passing off a forged document as genuine is also 10 years' jail and a fine per charge.

elena@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on October 18, 2014.
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