A man who assaulted a woman on her own wedding night in 2016 was convicted on Monday (May 30). He had contested two charges of sexual assault and using criminal force to outrage the woman’s modesty at trial.
The man, now 42, who stood as a groomsman at the woman’s wedding, will return to court on July 21 for sentencing, but faces jail time, fines or caning.
The identities of the persons involved have been protected by a gag order.
The assault occurred after the wedding banquet when the bride and groom held an after-party in their bridal suite with their bridesmaids and groomsmen.
The group had already consumed alcohol during the banquet, and more alcohol was available at the after-party, CNA reported.
He said, she said
According to the bride, now 39, she retired before her husband and was asleep in the bedroom when she felt someone touching her private parts and sexually assaulting her at around 6 am.
Believing it was her husband, she told the person to take a shower and sleep on the other side of the bed. The person, however, persisted in touching her.
The bride then began to realize it was not her husband, as she could tell the person touching her was wearing denim pants, which her husband had not worn at the after-party. However, as the room was very dark, she could not tell who the person was.
And when she asked the person to identify himself, he did not answer. She left the bedroom and found her husband asleep in the living room of the suite. She then woke her husband up.
The groomsman emerged from the bedroom at that point and spoke to the husband. The bride saw that the groomsman was in denim pants. Later, she confronted him and accused him of having touched her.
He later acknowledged that he touched her chest, but not her genitals. The husband told the man to leave, and the bride decided to file a police report.
Lawyers for the groomsman, however, said he believed he was in his own bed and that the woman whose chest he touched was his wife.
He also denied claims of sexual assault and added that when the woman spoke, he immediately took his hand away, as he recognized that the voice was not his wife’s.
The groomsman also claimed he was shocked to see the woman in the bed beside him and that he was the one who woke the groom up, adding that he apologized for touching her chest.
He also said he left at once and told the groom he’d settle the issue.
The Judge’s verdict
However, Principal District Judge Victor Yeo did not accept the man’s version of what happened, calling his story a “desperate excuse”.
Moreover, he also said that mistaking the woman for his own wife was “unbelievable” and that if he really believed he was at home, he would have slept on the floor instead of the bed, which he did when he was drunk and had not showered.
The judge also said that in the man’s version of what happened when the husband woke up, he was “clearly trying to portray that he had owned up to his error immediately”.
On the contrary, Judge Yeo said he found the woman’s version honest, credible and “unwavering.”
The bride and groom have since gotten divorced.
Netizens expressed sympathy for the former couple, especially the bride.
Others said it was foolish for the wedding party to have gotten so drunk that night.
/TISG