SINGAPORE: The last man in a series of wife-sharing cases has been convicted of raping a drugged woman in a conspiracy with her husband.
The 45-year-old man, referred to only as O as the victim cannot be identified under gag orders, was the last in a group of seven men to be dealt with in the larger case involving other wives.
The men involved had met each other online, largely on Sammyboy Forum, to discuss wife-sharing fantasies before turning them into reality.
O is the only one to claim trial, and is one of five men who raped the same victim – the wife of a man referred to as J.
According to J, O was the first man involved with his wife. J had intended for O to test the loyalty of J’s wife, but O wound up having an affair with the woman instead.
The pair had consensual sex without J’s knowledge, but O later went over to J’s house at J’s invitation to rape J’s wife, whom J had drugged to an unconscious state.
The long-running case stems from an incident in 2011 that was exposed only in 2020 when the victim discovered explicit photos of herself on her husband’s phone.
On Monday (Nov 20), Justice Mavis Chionh convicted O, finding that his account was “riddled with inconsistencies” and “wholly lacking in credibility”.
Not only were O’s accounts in court incongruent with his own defence’s case, they also did not make sense, said Justice Chionh.
She found that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The defence, Ms Luo Ling Ling and Mr Chan Eng Hui, had argued that J had reason to fabricate accusations against O.
This was because J was angry at O for betraying his trust by having an affair with J’s wife, or because J was jealous as his wife preferred O sexually.
However, Justice Chionh said this could not be reconciled with the nature of interactions between the two men in the years following the rape.
She said the defence had “no explanation” as to why, in the years after, the pair continued to interact on friendly terms, talking about their sexual fantasies and other exploits.
J and O also reminisced about the incident involving J’s wife in their text messages.
The defence had argued that these messages related to the consensual encounter, but the judge rejected this, saying it would not have involved O going over to J’s apartment.
The rape took place in March 2011, on the date of J’s third wedding anniversary with his wife, with whom he later had a total of four children.
The judge said the victim could give a vivid and textured account of what happened in the bedroom, and J described the anger, thrill and guilt he felt seeing O with his wife.
He also remembered cleaning his unconscious wife after, in an account consistent to the court documents he had pleaded guilty to separately.
The victim testified that she later blocked O, because he suggested that they have a threesome with J.
O denied that this was why the victim blocked him, but did not give any plausible alternative reason for why she had.
Justice Chionh said this went towards establishing O’s motive for the offence – which was to be able to turn his wife-sharing fantasy into reality.
It points towards O having a specific sexual interest in not just having sex with J’s wife, but in doing so in the presence of J, said the judge.
O, who wore dark spectacles, a mask and a suit, stood stiffly in the dock as the judge read out her decision.
He faces other charges, including circulating obscene images and possessing obscene videos, which are pending.
Sentencing arguments will be heard at a later date.
J was sentenced to 29 years’ jail and the maximum 24 strokes of the cane in May for his role.
The other men in the larger network received jail terms ranging from three to 22 years, depending on their involvement. Some of them also received caning.