Bouncer admits to raping unconscious woman at chalet egged on by 2 friends
SINGAPORE — A club bouncer who raped an unconscious woman after bringing her to a chalet pleaded guilty to the offence on Monday (1 February).
Yap Chun Chieh, 40, who was also the manager of Club V5 Tycoon, raped the heavily intoxicated 24-year-old victim in 2018 at the encouragement of two male friends.
He pleaded guilty to one count each of rape and molest, with another count of molest to be taken into consideration when he is sentenced.
Yap, who is represented by lawyer John Koh from Populus Law, will return to court on 26 February for a further mention of his case.
Koh applied for Yap’s case to be adjourned for mitigation and sentencing as there may be a further hearing over Yap’s purported psychiatric issues. The lawyer told the court that the medical reports from the defence’s private psychiatrist and a state psychiatrist had “stark differences” in their diagnoses.
Asked by Justice See Kee Oon whether the matter related to Yap’s mental state or an existing condition, Koh said that psychiatrists were unable to agree over the “degree” of Yap’s “collective functioning”.
The offences were committed at a chalet at Downtown East, where Yap’s friends were staying at the time of the incident. They are Tay Boon Huat, 28, Yong Chun Hong, 31, Gan Soon Chai, 35, a 42-year-old friend, and three others. The latter trio, Yong and Gan also worked at Club V5 – Yong was a manager/bouncer and Gan was a cashier.
On 17 September 2018, Tay, Yong, Gan and the 42-year-old friend headed to the club, at Ming Arcade, in the latter’s car.
The victim arrived at the club around 3.35am with her friends after consuming alcohol at another club earlier. At Club V5, the victim drank more alcohol and she later got involved in a dispute with a group involving Tay outside of the club.
After the dispute, the victim’s friends left her behind. The victim continued drinking with Tay, Yong and the 42-year-old friend. At about 6am, Yong brought the victim to a female toilet and then to a male toilet, where he spent 15 minutes alone with her behind closed doors, according to Deputy Public Prosecutors Ng Yiwen and Niranjan Ranjakunalan.
At around 6.35am, Yong asked Yap to send the victim home by taxi.
After Club V5 closed at about 7am,Yong, Gan and Tay decided to return to the chalet and boarded the 42-year-old friend’s car. The group drove by the taxi stand at the Forum the Shopping Mall, where they saw Yap with the heavily intoxicated woman.
Yong managed to persuade Yap to join them at the chalet and pulled the unconscious woman into the car. When Gan asked Yong why he had brought the woman along, Yong said that “they wanted to bring her to the chalet to ‘play and eat’”.
While in the car, Tay, Yap and Yong molested the victim, who was seated on Yap’s lap. Yong also told Yap, “you got free f**k, why don’t want?”
After reaching the chalet, the group placed the inebriated woman on the bed. Yong and Tay then egged Yap on, stating that “the woman is already lying here and you still are not having sex with her. What are you waiting for?”
Encouraged by what the men told him, Yap raped the unresponsive woman while Tay sexually assaulted her. Unbeknownst to the two men, Gan, who had been lying on the next bed, filmed the assault furtively. Tay saw him at one point and told him to stop.
After the sexual assault, Tay and Yap each spent some time with the woman in the toilet. Tay later tried delete the video from Gan’s phone, but he was unsuccessful.
At about 9am that day, Yap got dressed and helped the woman get dressed as well before putting her in a taxi to send her to the address on her NRIC. However, when the woman could not be roused at at a void deck near her house, Yap brought her to a Hotel 81 outlet to sleep.
Yap further molested her before the woman regained consciousness at 7pm that day. She realised she was beside Yap, who was a stranger to her, and that her clothes were in disarray.
The woman left the room with Yap after paying the bill. Although she knew something had happened to her, she did not make an immediate police report as she was depressed and did not know what to do.
She met a friend at Club V5 to talk about what happened to her. She returned on 23 and 24 September 2018 and confronted Yap about what happened to her.
At this point, Yap admitted that he had had sex with her and apologised. He let her check his phone for photos or videos but she did not find any.
The victim eventually made a police report and Tay, Yong, Gan, Yap, and the 42-year-old friend were arrested, which led to the discovery of the sexual assault video that Gan had taken.
Thus far, Gan and Tay have been dealt with. Gan was jailed for one year and three months, and fined $20,800 in the State Courts on 13 August 2019 for making an obscene video, having 65 other obscene films, and having eight films without certification from the Board of Film Censors.
Tay was jailed 10 years and three months, and given to five strokes of the cane by the High Court on 5 August 2020 after he pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault by penetration and one count of rioting in an unrelated incident in 2016.
The 42-year-old friend was not charged over the incident, while Yong’s case is still pending before the court.
Rape carries a jail term of up to 20 years, and a fine or caning, while molest carries a jail term of up to two years, or a fine, or caning, or with any combination of the penalties.
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