A man was sentenced on Wednesday (Nov 15) to 24 years in jail for repeatedly raping their domestic helper from Indonesia while his wife and children were out of the house. The sexual assault occurred between September and October 2020. Aside from the 24-year jail sentence, the man, who was 34 when he raped the helper, was also given 24 strokes of the cane.
The assault on the helper ended when she, then 24, called her agent, who told her that if she filed a report she would not be banned from working in Singapore, The Straits Times reported. However, the assault also left lasting emotional scars on the woman. She lost two other jobs and was blamed by her family and boyfriend for getting raped.
“This case brings into sharp focus the plight of a foreign domestic worker who becomes a victim of rape in the household where she works,” said High Court judge Dedar Singh Gill when the man was sentenced. The prosecutor said that the man had claimed to have been feeling frustrated since his wife could no longer satisfy him sexually.
He had tearfully asked the court for leniency, admitting he was “a poor husband and a poor employer” and saying he’d not received fatherly love when he was a child.
Netizens commenting on the ST story laid the blame firmly on the man’s shoulders. One wrote, “Inexcusable. Having lack of fatherly love is not a valid reason to ruin someone else’s life. Hope the lady has people who would support and be there for her.”
Another called him “A man with no moral and values who will destroy another being’s life,” adding, “He had a family who lived him and right under their nose, he has done these immoral acts. If I am his wife, I would live with regrets for all my life. Regrets of loving him and worst still having his kids through my womb!!!”
Others were equally condemning.
/TISG
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