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Coffeeshop supervisor tied subordinate to bed and sexually assaulted her

Woman with hands in front of her
Photo from Getty Images

SINGAPORE — A coffeeshop supervisor molested his subordinate then tied her to a bed with the nightgown she was wearing before sexually assaulting her.

The 57-year-old man had been doing work in the unit that the victim stayed in, which was above the coffeeshop they worked at.

The man was jailed for seven-and-a-half years on Wednesday (1 April) on one charge of sexual assault by penetration with one count of molesting the 31-year-old woman from China, who was his assistant, while restraining her considered for his sentencing.

The two had known each other for over a year as colleagues at the time of the incident and were never romantically involved.

On 2 November 2018, the man went to the coffeeshop after 6am for breakfast. He then went to the unit where the victim stayed in to do some accounting work in the kitchen.

The man later called out to the victim from the kitchen, telling her that she had to work at 3pm. The victim woke up and went to the kitchen dressed in a nightgown. She spoke to the man about getting the washing machine repaired before she put some clothes inside it.

As she turned to leave the kitchen, the man hugged her from the back. He pulled the victim to the living room where he made her sit on his thighs and molested her. He then carried the struggling woman to the bedroom.

The two ended up on the floor with the woman scratching at the man, prompting him to hold her wrists. He molested her as she shouted for help.

The man managed to remove the nightgown and used it to tie the woman’s hands to the bed railing. He had managed to move the woman onto the bed. He then molested and sexually assaulted her. Although he wanted to rape the woman, he changed his mind and released her after 10 minutes.

He then left the unit and showered at home before carrying on with his day. Distraught, the woman called a friend to seek help and the police were called a while later.

The police found the woman crying in the unit. As she related the incident to the police, she received a call from the man, who said in Mandarin, “I won’t do it again, please give me a chance I will never do such things again”. The police took over the call and advised the man to surrender himself. He did so that day.

The man was later assessed with mild depression, which was not a significant contributory factor in the offence.

As a result of her lower back pain which she attributed to her knocking the back against the bed frame, the victim visited a polyclinic on 29 November. She was diagnosed with back contusion. Her back pain persisted and the woman visited a private medical practitioner and she was discovered to have rib fracture in her spine. Doctors were unable to confirm if the fracture was caused by the sexual assault.

The prosecution called for eight years’ jail as the man had abused the victim’s trust and had forcefully subdued the victim.

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