Man, 25, convicted of raping woman after failed robbery attempt
A 25-year-old man had initially intended to rob a woman he came across in a back alley but ended up raping her instead after she threw her valuables beyond his reach.
Kelvin Singh Jagjit Singh, a Singaporean, pleaded guilty on Tuesday (29 August) to two counts of sexually assaulting a 42-year-old female Chinese national and one count of raping her. Four other charges – for attempted robbery, abduction, molest and criminal intimidation – have been stood down.
At the time of Singh’s crimes he had absconded from the Reformative Training Centre (RTC), which handles offenders below the age of 21. He had been in and out of the RTC and was last recalled to the centre on 9 October 2015 for failing to comply with the requirements for his release.
His most recent RTC stint had yet to be completed by the time of his offences.
Appearing in the High Court for his conviction, Singh was assessed by an Institute of Mental Health (IMH) psychiatrist to have borderline intelligence along with a history of conduct disorder and glue sniffing, as well as antisocial and narcissistic personality traits. Singh smiled on several occasions while the Statement of Facts was being read out.
Looking for someone to rob
The court heard that the Singh’s victim, who has a husband and daughter in China, had been working here as a cleaner since 2013.
The incident occured after the woman ended her shift at around midnight on 12 January 2016. After leaving her workplace, the victim took her usual route home, which was along Kensington Park Road followed by Hythe Road and Worthing Road. As she was nearing the entrance of Kensington Park Condominium she turned into a back alley.
Singh, who had been riding around Serangoon Gardens on a bicycle looking for someone to rob, spotted the woman. Equipped with a Swiss army knife that had an 8cm blade, Singh followed the woman into the back alley on his bicycle.
After overtaking the woman, Singh alighted from his bicycle and ran at the woman while brandishing his knife. The woman, who suspected that Singh was about to rob her, flung her handbag containing $800 over a fence into the compound of a private home along the back alley.
Singh pointed his knife at the woman and demanded her money. The woman, who was too terrified to shout, pointed at the private home into which she had thrown her bag and told Singh she had “no money”.
He became angry after realising the woman’s money was out of his reach and decided to have sexual intercourse with her as he had not had sex in a while. Still holding on to the knife, Singh signalled for the woman to follow him and led her to a flight of steps at the end of the alley.
According to the prosecution, Singh briefly entertained the notion of kicking the woman down the steps but motioned for her to sit on the low wall beside the steps instead. The woman complied.
Singh then forced the woman to perform oral sex on him. Singh then raped the woman and forced her to perform oral sex on him a second time.
After committing the offences, Singh got dressed and decided to leave as he thought someone was coming down the alley.
Before leaving the scene, he made a slitting gesture across his throat with his right thumb, warning the woman not to call the police. Singh then returned to his bicycle and cycled off.
The woman used her mobile phone, which she had in a paper bag with her, to call her boyfriend – a fellow Chinese national. He arrived shortly later and the woman told him about the robbery attempt.
She did not inform him about the sexual assault as she felt embarrassed about it. Her boyfriend then called the police.
Three days later, at about 3am, Singh was spotted cycling around Tavistock Avenue Park by a member of the public who alerted the police. When police officers arrived and identified themselves to Singh, he dropped his bicycle and ran for it.
Singh boarded a taxi which was waiting along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3. After a short chase, officers managed to stop the taxi and arrested Singh. The Swiss army knife he had used in his robbery attempt was found on him.
Not of unsound mind
The psychiatric report on Singh, dated 23 February 2016, showed that he did not suffer from any major mental illnesses and was not of unsound mind at the time of the offences.
It also stated that Singh did not appear to show genuine remorse for his actions and that his regret seemed to be related more to the fact that he would likely be punished for his offence.
According to the report, Singh was assessed to be “at considerable risk of committing similar serious sexual or (violent) offences in future” as he did not appear to be genuinely remorseful over his actions.
The woman was also interviewed by an IMH psychiatrist. In a report dated 20 June 2016, the woman was said to be low in mood for about a week after the incident but had no psychological symptoms and could still function at work. The report said that the woman was doing well and hardly thought about the incident.
Singh’s lawyers Sadhana Devi and Khadijah Yasin sought to adjourn sentencing and mitigation to await a private psychiatric report to be prepared for Singh. No dates have been given for the next hearing.
On each charge of sexual assault by penetration and rape, Singh could be jailed between 8 years and 20 years and caned at least 12 strokes.
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