Man pleads guilty to sexually assaulting and trying to rape tourist after drinks

He offered to take her to a hotel so that she could get a proper rest after a night of drinking.

The offer turned out to be one she would regret.

After checking in, he forced himself on her, violated her and tried to rape her on the hotel bed.

When she broke free and tried to escape, he caught her, slapped her and pushed her back to the bed.

Yesterday, Ng Jun Xian, 20, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting and attempting to rape the 23-year-old woman last Nov 8.

The woman was a Taiwanese tourist who came here last year to visit her boyfriend.

She had met Ng, who was then a full-time national serviceman, at Club Sonar at Orchard Hotel a few weeks before the incident and the two exchanged numbers. Both were there with their own friends for drinks.

On Nov 8, at about 2.30am, Ng sent her a text message and asked her out.

They met at the club again and drank until about 4am, when she wanted to return to her hostel in Serangoon.

But Ng offered to take her to a hotel so that she could rest there instead.

The woman was initially reluctant, but agreed after Ng assured her that she would be left alone in the hotel room to sleep.

The two of them, along with Ng's friend, took a cab to Hotel 81 at Lavender Street.

Ng's friend stayed outside the hotel for a smoke.

After entering the hotel room, the woman lay on the bed and told Ng to leave. But Ng felt aroused and had the urge to have sex with her.

He tried kissing her, but she bit his lip.

Ng then touched her buttocks, pushed her down on the bed and molested her breast.

The woman put up a hard struggle and kept shouting, "Don't want, don't want, don't touch me," but Ng ignored her.

Meanwhile, Ng's friend had finished smoking and was heading up to the hotel room when he heard the woman shouting. He banged on the hotel room door and shouted for Ng, who did not respond.

Instead, Ng covered the woman's mouth with his hand and pinned her on the bed by sitting on top of her. He turned her face-down, pulled down her pants and panties and sexually violated her with his fingers.

He also tried to rape her, but did not succeed.

After much struggling, the woman managed to break free and ran towards the door.

But Ng caught up to her, grabbed her and slapped her hard across the cheek. She felt giddy and he pushed her back to the bed. The struggle continued and the woman grabbed a coffee cup and threw it at Ng.

SORRY

Shortly after this, Ng suddenly stopped, knelt down and apologised to her.

The woman took the chance to put on her clothes and leave the room.

Hotel employees saw her exiting the hotel in tears with a red, swollen face.

The woman made a police report and Ng was arrested later that day.

While out on bail, he got into a fight in a pub with a group of other patrons after an unknown man punched one of his friends.

During the brawl, Ng threw a chair at someone and punched another.

He was arrested again.

Yesterday, on the eve of his 21st birthday, Ng turned up in court in a blue, long-sleeve shirt and had his head bowed for most of the hearing.

He was seen wiping his eyes and nose while sobbing silently in the deck as the statement of facts was read out.

Other than his sex offences, he also admitted to one count of riotous behaviour, with two other charges taken into consideration for sentencing.

Ng's lawyer A. Rajandran said in mitigation that his client was remorseful and had committed the offences on impulse.

He urged the court to consider Ng for reformative training, which ranges between 18 months and three years behind bars.

But Deputy Public Prosecutor Zhang Hongchuan disagreed, pointing out that this was not Ng's first brush with the law.

Ng had previously been convicted of robbery, cheating and dishonest misappropriation.

DPP Zhang submitted for a total sentence of nine years' jail and 10 strokes of the cane for the sex offences, and four to six weeks for the remaining charge.

District Judge Mathew Joseph called for a pre-sentence report to assess Ng's suitability for reformative training, but said this does not guarantee reformative training for Ng.

rloh@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on August 13, 2015.
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