Singapore — Four men have been accused of conspiring together to have their wives raped between 2010 and 2018, with three more men linked to the incidents also facing charges.
The four men have appeared before a district court to face multiple rape charges. All seven men are Singaporean.
Lianhe Zaobao has identified the seven men as “locals” coming “from all walks of life,” but their names cannot be released due to a gag order set by the court for the protection of the female victims in the case.
There are at least four women victimized by the men, although court documents do not show which woman was married to which man among the accused, according to straitstimes.com.
The names of the women were also redacted in the court documents.
The men have been identified, however, as being between the ages of 38 and 51.
The incidents of sexual assault reportedly occurred in different places, among them are HDB apartments on the north-eastern side of the country.
Sometime in 2010, the youngest of the accused men, now 38 years old, conspired with another of the accused to rape a woman, then aged 29. He has also been accused of conspiring with the other two men sometime between 2013 and 2014. Court documents show that he also committed rape between 2012 and 2018. This man faces the highest number of charges among all of the accused.
Another of the accused men, now 41 years old, is facing four rape charges. Twice in 2012, he is said to have conspired with the 38-year-old husband to rape a 35-year-old woman, which he repeated the following year.
And in 2014, this man raped another woman.
The third accused man, now age 43, reportedly conspired to rape a 42-year-old woman two years ago, in 2018. He also faces accusations of having raped another woman, age 38, and sexually penetrating a 29-year-old woman, with both incidents occurring in 2010.
The fourth accused man allegedly raped a woman, aged 32, in 2013. He is also reported to have conspired in 2017 with one of the other men connected to the case to rape a 44-year-old woman.
The four men, as well as the three others connected to the case, are scheduled to appear in court in April.
They have not been granted bail.
If any of them are found guilty of rape, they could face a maximum of 20 years in prison, be slapped with a fine, or receive a caning, except for those who are over 50 years of age. —/TISG
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