SINGAPORE: A man who was looking for sex in Geylang thought the prices were too high and decided to target a woman who was sleeping in an alley.
He molested her while she was drowsy from taking some pills, before carrying her to a more secluded lane where he forced sex on her.
The woman, who was a sex worker, lodged a police report later that morning.
Patian Sohag, 40, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years’ jail and three strokes of the cane on Friday (Sep 16).
The court heard that Patian worked at a chemical plating factory. On Feb 28 last year, he had alcohol with his friends from 10pm.
At about 2am on Mar 1, 2021, Patian went to Geylang with a friend intending to look for sex workers.
“However, he was unable to find a suitable one as he felt that the prices quoted were too high,” said the prosecutor.
Patian’s friend left as he had to work, and Patian continued roaming the Geylang area for sex workers.
At about 3.20am, he came across the victim, a 53-year-old woman who plied her trade in Geylang. Earlier that night, she had gone to a coffee shop in Lorong 10 and consumed “power pills” as they made her feel alert.
She fell asleep on a chair in Geylang Lorong 20 from 12.15am.
When Patian saw the sleeping woman, he checked that no one else was around before walking towards her as he wanted to have sex with her.
He tried to wake her up by calling to her, but the victim did not respond and was in a deep sleep.
Patian then molested her a few times, trying to wake her up in the process, but she did not respond.
He asked her if she wanted to go with him to have sex, but the victim did not respond. Patian then decided to take her to a secluded connected lane nearby where there were potted plants so he could have sex with her there, said the prosecutor.
He then lifted the victim up by her armpits and carried her to the lane, where he placed her on the ground and had sex with her, said the prosecutor.
Patian left about six minutes later, and the victim staggered back to the chair she had been sitting on and resumed sleeping.
Later that morning, she woke up and found a sticky substance on her underwear. Believing it was semen, the Singaporean woman lodged a police report, saying her phone had also been taken.
A toxicology report of the victim’s blood and urine samples found elevated levels of a cough suppressant and sedative in the victim. The levels of dextromethorphan and nitrazepam in her blood sample ranged from about three to five times the upper ends of their therapeutic ranges, court documents said.
Side effects of such levels of both drugs include hallucination, altered mental status, amnesia, confusion, sedation and disorientation.
Patian’s semen was found on the victim’s vaginal swabs, and he was arrested on Mar 4, 2021.
His acts of groping the victim while she was asleep on the chair were caught on closed-circuit television footage, which was played in court. The footage ended when Patian carried the woman off into the area with the potted plants.
Patian’s case was originally in the High Court but was downgraded to the State Courts. The Bangladesh national pleaded guilty to reclassified charges on Friday: One count of abduction for forced illicit intercourse and one count of criminal force to outrage the victim’s modesty. A third charge of misappropriation was considered in sentencing.
“BRAZEN”: PROSECUTOR
Deputy Public Prosecutor Delicia Tan asked for a jail term of between three years and four years and two months’ jail, with three strokes of the cane.
She said Patian “had his way with the victim” and “brazenly molested her”.
Defence lawyer Ashwin Ganapathy said it would be naive of him to ask for a lenient sentence, given how egregious the case for.
“What I seek is a proportionate sentence,” he said, asking for the sentences to run concurrently instead of consecutively as the prosecution was asking for.
He said he accepted that the victim was vulnerable as she was intoxicated on the drugs.
“I would go as far as to say her vulnerability is amplified, because she’s a sex worker, and sex workers are far more vulnerable because of their reluctance to come forward,” he said.
Mr Ganapathy asked for three years’ jail and three strokes of the cane. He said his client has worked in Singapore in manufacturing for the past 16 years and supported his elderly parents on his own.
District Judge Ronald Gwee in sentencing commended the defence lawyer for his approach, which he said was “very balanced and very fair to both accused and victim”.
For abduction for forced illicit intercourse, Patian could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined or caned.