Former teacher barges into room to rape her

It was meant to be a romantic Christmas break for a Singaporean woman and her boyfriend at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) hotel.

But romance turned to horror when a trespasser tailed her, barged into her room, pushed her towards the bed and tried to rape her.

The trespasser, former primary school teacher Zainal Ariffin Selamat, 38, was later found with a bag containing penis rings, condoms and a dildo. The 28-year-old woman and her 29-year-old boyfriend cannot be named to protect her identity.

Zainal Ariffin, who has schizophrenia and is jobless, was given a two-year mandatory treatment order (MTO) yesterday after pleading guilty to one count of house-trespass. An MTO is for offenders who suffer from psychiatric conditions. Those ordered to undergo MTO have to go for psychiatric treatment in lieu of jail time.

An MTO is capped at two years.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Chee Ee Ling said that the couple checked into MBS at about 3pm on Dec 25, last year.

The woman's boyfriend had gone to their 47th-storey room first. She was still in the lobby with her luggage when Zainal Ariffin, who was then wandering around aimlessly, spotted her at about 3.15pm.

He tried to befriend the woman as he wanted to have sex with her. He followed her into a lift and to her room. In the lift she asked him where he was going. He replied that he was heading to the same floor.

The woman had just opened the door to her room when he suddenly rushed towards her and pushed her inside, towards the bed.

SCREAMED

She screamed for her boyfriend, who was in the bathroom. Zainal Ariffin tried to flee but the boyfriend caught him. Hotel security was notified and the police were alerted.

DPP Chee said: "After the police arrived, (he) admitted that he intended to have sex with (the woman) and would have persisted even if (she) was unwilling."

In their written mitigation, Zainal Ariffin's lawyers, Mr Abdul Salim A. Ibrahim and Ms Janessa Goh, said their client was diagnosed with schizophrenia in March last year. They added that he had a relapse when he committed the offence, which caused him to have poor impulse control and impaired judgment.

For house-trespass, he could have been jailed up to two years and fined.

This article was first published on September 13, 2014.
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