Singapore, February 27 A Malaysian man of Indian origin was sentenced in Singapore to 12 years in prison and 12 strokes of the cane for raping a domestic worker outside a train station after deceiving her into believing that he was a police officer.
Sharveen Chetty, 48, pleaded guilty on February 4 to one charge of raping the 35-year-old Indonesian woman in the bushes outside Exit F of the Little India Mass Rapid Transit station, at around 8 pm on July 11, 2022.
The victim was with her friends at the time, but Chetty lured her away before sexually assaulting her, according to a report by The Straits Times on Thursday.
Two other charges – a second charge of rape and a charge of impersonating a police officer – were taken into consideration during sentencing on Wednesday.
The witnesses who testified on the first day of the trial included a doctor from the Women's and Children's Hospital who examined the victim a day after the rapes, and forensic scientists from the Health Sciences Authority.
Chetty had initially contested the charges in a High Court trial that began on February 3. But he changed his mind and pleaded guilty on what would have been the second day of the trial, according to the daily report.
In sentencing, Justice Dedar Singh Gill considered it aggravating that Chetty had targeted the victim because she was a foreigner who might be unfamiliar with the local authorities.
The judge rejected the defence's arguments that the rape was not premeditated.
The judge, however, noted that Chetty had pleaded guilty before the victim and key prosecution witnesses testified, thus sparing her and her friends from going through cross-examination.
The prosecution had sought a sentence of between 11 and 13 years in prison and 12 strokes of the cane, noting Chetty's extensive efforts to disguise himself, and his predatory act of leading the victim away from the rest of the group.
Chetty admitted that he became sexually attracted to the victim.
