Man who raped woman three times ‘shattered’ the idea of safe Singapore: Judge

The Singaporean man who raped a woman from China three times within 20 minutes in 2013 was on Tuesday (10 May) sentenced to almost 17 years in jail and 22 strokes of the cane.

The acts by Lim Choon Beng, 30, had “shattered” the “idea that one can walk safely on the roads of Singapore at any time of the day”, Judicial Commissioner Foo Chee Hock said in sentencing.

Calling Lim’s offences “shocking and brazen”, JC Foo said in the High Court that a “clear message must be sent out” that similar offences will be “punished with the full force of the law”.

Lim had finished drinking at Robertson Quay on 9 February 2013 when he approached and raped the 24-year-old victim on a grass patch in front of the Watermark condominium.

After that he took her to Rodyk Street and struck her head against a wall at another condominium before raping her a second time.

The victim tried to flee, but Lim held her back, saying he wanted to bring her home. The victim suggested to Lim to walk to her home, where she intended to alert a security guard.

When they were at River Valley Close, Lim pinned her to the ground and raped her a third time. He also forced her to perform oral sex on him.

The victim ran away while he was putting on his jeans, and managed to seek help from a car driver.

Lim pleaded guilty last Wednesday (4 May) to two counts of rape, one count of aggravated outrage of modesty and one count of sexual assault, a day after claiming he could not remember what he did.

Lim was given a total sentence a total of 16 years, 10 months and two weeks for the four charges. The prosecution had earlier called for a strong deterrent sentence of at least 17 years and 24 strokes of the cane.

Lim’s sentence was backdated to 14 September 2013, the time his sentence for unlicensed moneylending ended while he was still in remand over the rape and sexual assault charges.

- Additional reporting by Safhras Khan