Jail for man who raped victim as friends slept nearby

Jail for man who raped victim as friends slept nearby

His two friends were sleeping in the same room, but that did not stop 23-year-old Lim Jia Yi from raping a woman. On Wednesday, the full-time national serviceman (NSF) was sent to jail for eight years and ordered to be caned eight strokes, with the prosecution highlighting the brazen way in which he raped the victim in the presence of others.

In 2011, Lim befriended the 23-year-old woman after meeting her at a pub. They kept in touch and met several times at the void deck of her flat. On the night of Jan 10 last year, she agreed to go out for drinks with Lim. They went pub crawling with Lim's friend, Mr Larry Ng, and Mr Ng's girlfriend until the wee hours.

Lim then took the woman to a flat in Yishun where Mr Ng shared one of three bedrooms with another friend, Mr George Tan. At the time, Mr Tan was already sleeping on the lower deck of a double-decker bed. Mr Ng took out a mattress for Lim and the woman, then went to sleep on the upper deck. Lim raped the woman on the mattress, ignoring her cries for him to stop. Mr Tan was awoken by her screams and witnessed the rape. But he did not help her.

After her ordeal, the victim went to the toilet, locked the door, smashed a window and screamed for help. Another tenant in the unit heard the screams and alerted Mr Tan and Mr Ng. Mr Tan forced open the toilet door, then told Lim and the victim to leave.

The woman called the police. Lim, who faced up to 20 years in jail, pleaded guilty to rape.

selinal@sph.com.sg


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