SINGAPORE: A baker was infatuated with a colleague at his company and became upset when he heard that she was getting married.
He pointed a knife at her neck, wanting to compel the woman into engaging in intimate acts with him.
Malaysian Lim Chee Wee, 37, was sentenced to a year’s jail on Wednesday (Sep 14). He pleaded guilty to one count of criminal intimidation, with a second charge taken into consideration.
The court heard that Lim worked in the same bakery as the victim, but rarely interacted with her as Lim worked in the kitchen while the victim manned the cashier.
“The accused was infatuated with the victim and would often have sexual fantasies about her,” said the prosecutor.
Sometime around March this year, Lim found out that the victim got engaged and became upset.
On Jun 17, Lim ended work and sat in the staff locker room playing games and watching videos on his phone.
Around 6pm, the victim ended her shift and entered the locker room to pack her belongings and clock out.
Upon seeing the victim, the accused had the sudden desire to be physically intimate with her, said the prosecutor.
However, Lim knew the victim would not consent to being intimate with him. He picked up a knife with an 18cm-long blade from the kitchen and went back to the locker room, closing the door behind him.
He then advanced towards the victim and pointed the knife at her neck. He did so intending to compel the victim into engaging in intimate acts with him, the court heard.
The victim did not comply and screamed while trying to wrestle the knife away from Lim. In the scuffle, the victim sustained a cut on her left thumb.
She managed to pry the knife away from Lim, but Lim covered her mouth with his hand and told her repeatedly not to shout. He then tried to kiss the victim’s mouth and cheek but failed as the victim struggled against him.
The victim continued shouting and began screaming that Lim was trying to rape her. Afraid of being caught, Lim ran out of the locker room, and other colleagues came to help.
They detained Lim and the victim called her brother to tell him what happened. Her brother called the police.
The prosecutor called for at least two years’ jail. He said the degree of alarm caused to the victim was high, albeit not prolonged, as she genuinely believed Lim would rape her at knifepoint.
He cited the immediacy of the threat, the fact that the accused pointed the knife directly at the victim’s neck, and the “sexually exploitative motivation behind his offending behaviour”.
For criminal intimidation with threat of hurt by a dangerous weapon, the man could have been jailed for up to 10 years, fined, or both.