Man accused of raping Singaporean woman who hired him to fix lights in her flat claims she made first move

The Star

4 days ago

Taking the stand on July 31, Koh Lee Hwa said he ended up having sex with the woman after she pulled him by the arm. - ST/ANN
SINGAPORE: A 49-year-old man who is on trial for raping a woman after she hired him to repair the lights in her flat claimed that they had consensual sex after she made the first move.
Taking the stand on July 31, the third day of his trial, Koh Lee Hwa said he ended up having sex with the woman after she pulled him by the arm.
Denying that he had raped her, Koh said the sexual encounter took slightly over 10 minutes, which he compared with the 'standard' length of time for sex between him and his wife.
'How could it happen so fast if it was rape?' he said through a Mandarin interpreter.
The prosecution said Koh's testimony was 'unbelievable' and contended that the woman did not do anything to suggest that she wanted intimacy from him.
The Singapore permanent resident faces one count of rape, one count of sexual assault by penetration and two counts of outrage of modesty.
The offences were allegedly committed between about 11.40am and 12.40pm on Aug 23, 2021.
The woman, whose age has been redacted from court documents provided to the media, had earlier testified in private.
She had engaged Koh to renovate her flat in 2015. Over the years, she contacted him for various works.
On Aug 21, 2021, she asked him to repair the faulty light in the common toilet and the light switch in the kitchen.
The next day, Koh repaired the light switch.
On Aug 23, he returned with the necessary parts to fix the main circuit switchboard.
Koh allegedly hugged the woman without her consent in the living room.
Shocked, the woman pushed him away and went back to the bedroom, where she sent text messages to two friends to tell them about the hug.
A few minutes later, Koh asked her to turn on all the switches in the flat to ensure that they were working.
While they were outside the toilet in the master bedroom, Koh allegedly pushed her against the dressing table and hugged her.
She tried to push him away and told him to let her go. But he allegedly raped her on the bed and did not stop even after she bit him.
On July 31, Koh denied that he had hugged the woman in the living room.
He said she pulled his right arm while they were outside the master bedroom toilet after checking the water heater.
Koh said he asked her in Mandarin, 'what do you want?', and she echoed the same words back at him.
He said he then put his arms around her waist while she placed her hands on his shoulders, and they started kissing.
'Things happened very quickly. The two of us landed on the bed,' he said.
Describing their acts, Koh said she made sounds indicating she was excited.
When Justice Mavis Chionh asked if there was any conversation between them, Koh said there was none.
Koh said that while they were having sex, the woman bit him in excitement.
He said he pushed her to stop her because he did not want his family to know he had an affair.
Koh said that after sex, when he told her he was leaving, she uttered the word 'money' and he replied 'don't have'.
He said he was confused about whether she was asking him for money or referring to the amount that she owed him for the repair job.
Koh said the woman could be jealous of him because she saw the gold chain he was wearing.
When the judge asked what this had to do with the incident, he said it was just his view.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Emily Koh sought to poke holes in the man's claims in cross-examination, pointing to the messages that the woman had sent to her friends.
The man insisted that he did not hug her, saying he was a 'righteous and upright person'.
The prosecutor contended that the alleged victim did not grab his arm, noting that the woman had never expressed romantic or sexual interest in him.
Koh disagreed.
He said the two of them 'were in the mood' and that the woman was trying to 'entice' him by pulling his arm.
He disagreed with the DPP's contention that the alleged victim had tried to push him away and told him to let her go.
The trial ended with Koh's testimony.
Both sides have four weeks to file written submissions, and another week to reply. - The Straits Times/ANN