“The idea that one can walk safely on the public road in Singapore at any time of the day was shattered by the shocking and brazen acts of the accused that morning.”
These were the words of Judicial Commissioner Foo Chee Hock who sentenced a 30-year-old man to nearly 17 years’ jail and 22 strokes of the cane for raping a young woman three-times repeatedly in just under 20 minutes.
Lim had initially said that he did not remember the rape and claimed trial, but he later pleaded guilty to two counts of rape, one count of aggravated outrage of modesty and one count of sexual assault. Other charges were also taken into consideration during sentencing, including a third rape charge.
Lim waylaid the 24-year old victim in the wee hours on of Feb 9, 2013 as she was walking home alone, and violently raped her. The sexual assaults happened at three different spots along a stretch of road from Martin Road to River Valley Close.
The victim a Chinese national now aged 27 testified that Lim raped her first along Martin Road outside the Watermark condominium, then outside the Robertson 100 condominium, and finally near lamp post number 16 along River Valley.
JC Foo who described Lim’s attacks on the young woman as “shocking and brazen” sentenced him to 13 years’ jail and seven strokes of the cane for each of the two rape charges he pleaded guilty to.
Lim had also aggravatingly outraged the modesty of the victim by sitting on her to stop her from getting away, before grabbing her breast. For this aggravated assault, Lim received 30 months’ jail and four strokes of the cane.
He was was given three years and 10.5 months’ jail and four strokes of the cane for forcing the victim to perform oral sex on him.
The judge ordered that one of Lim’s 13-year term for rape and term for sexual assault should run consecutively, giving Lim a total jail term of 16 years and 10.5 months in prison, with 22 strokes of the cane. He will serve his other imprisonment terms concurrently.