Fake police officer sentenced to jail and caning for rape in Singapore
A man was sentenced to 12 and a half years’ in jail and given 11 strokes of the cane after he was found guilty of impersonating a police officer to rape and sexually assault a teenager.
Muhammad Firman Jumali Chew, a 30-year-old pizza delivery rider, appeared at the conclusion of his trial in the High Court before Judicial Commissioner Hoo Sheau Peng on Wednesday (13 July). JC Hoo found him guilty of one charge of rape, one charge of sexual assault and another charge of impersonating a police officer.
On 9 October 2013, Firman saw the then 16-year-old girl having sex with her boyfriend, who was also 16 then, at the 11th floor staircase landing of Block 362 Woodlands Avenue 5. The couple left the area after the victim noticed Firman peering at them.
Firman approached the couple at a lift landing and identified himself as a police officer to them. He asked for their identity cards before instructing the victim’s boyfriend to leave as he wanted to talk to the girl alone.
Firman then led the girl away to the fifth floor of another block nearby, where he sexually assaulted her before raping her.
The victim, whose identity cannot be revealed due to a gag order, had testified via a video-link earlier in the trial.
Pressing for a jail term of 13 and a half years and 11 strokes of the cane, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz said that Firman had planned the offence in a calculated manner by pretending to be a police officer.
She said Firman had deliberately walked into the lift of Block 362 backwards just to avoid detection. Calling Firman a sexual predator, DPP Sharmila also urged the court to consider the victim’s young age.
“He had shown a lack of remorse to date and had even claimed that the victim was the sexual predator who had cornered and sexually assaulted him,” DPP Sharmila said.
"He had also raped the victim without using a condom, exposing her to an unwanted pregnancy. The evidence reveals a guile and cunning sexual predator who manipulated an innocent teenager into satisfying his depraved lust,” she added.
Firman, who was wearing a long sleeved shirt and pants, remained quiet as he sat in the dock. He occasionally glanced to the public dock, where his wife and daughter were seated.
In mitigation, Firman’s counsel, Ravinderpal Singh, said that his client had a low IQ level and was diagnosed to have a disillusion disorder.
However, DPP Sharmila rebutted Singh by saying that Firman’s IQ level has no links with the offences.
