Too much sugar led 9-year-old boy to imagine sexual assault: defence lawyer

A nine-year-old boy who accused his classmate’s father of sexually assaulting him may have made up the claims as he had taken too much sugar.

The alleged victim may also have been so affected by the Halloween party he had earlier attended that he may have also imagined the abuse.

These were among the theories floated about by the accused’s defence lawyer, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Christina Koh at the High Court on Wednesday (18 July) during the closing submissions for the 49-year-old man’s trial.

The accused, who cannot be named to protect the boy’s identity, faces one charge of aggravated molestation and two charges of sexual assault by penetration.

‘Victim’ was friend of accused’s son

The alleged incident took place on the night of 31 October 2015, while the boy was sleeping over at the accused’s home.

Following a Halloween party at the home, the boy had gone to sleep in the upper-deck of a double-decker bed in the bedroom of the accused’s son – who slept on the lower deck.

According to the prosecution, the man entered the bedroom at around 11.15pm and molested the boy, who pretended to be asleep during the alleged assault. The accused’s son remained asleep throughout the incident.

The accused left the room after the act but returned and performed oral sex on the boy. He then left the room again and returned once more to repeat the act before pulling up the boy’s shorts.

Once the accused left the bedroom after final assault, the boy decided that he did not want to continue spending the night at the man’s home. He packed his belongings and went to the man’s bedroom to say that he wanted to go home as he was feeling unwell. The man’s wife then contacted the boy’s father.

When the boy’s father arrived, the boy told the former about what had happened and then crouched on the floorboard of their family car while the father confronted the accused.

An argument broke out between the two men. The accused denied having abused the boy, claiming that he had entered the bedroom to use his laptop.

The victim’s father lodged a police report on 2 November.

In summarising the prosecution’s case, Koh said that the boy – who testified over three days of the trial – had “unflinchingly answered” questions posed to him and gave “objective and honest” answers, compared with the man, who had been “shifty and vague when it suited him”.

The defence had also resorted to victim-shaming tactics and “11th hour” claims, said Koh.

“The Prosecution reiterates that the accused has, to date, been unable to come up with any plausible reason why the victim would level false accusations against him. He instead engaged in victim-shaming tactics by alleging that the victim was ‘familiar with oral sex’, had repeatedly used words like ‘sexy’ and ‘penis’, and listened to music with sexually explicit lyrics,” she added.

DPP Koh also argued that the accused had been “extremely detailed when it suited him”.

The accused also claimed to be physically unable to reach the boy on the upper bunk due to a back injury despite his orthopaedic doctor – who was called as a defence witness – having debunked the claim, she noted.

Calling the defence’s arguments “wild theories”, the DPP noted the defence’s claims that the boy had spouted fantasies after taking too much sugar as a result of trick or treating.

The boy, however, testified that he had not consumed too much sugar as that would have prevented him from being able to sleep at night.

The defence had also sought to paint the boy as an attention-seeking liar and a child who had been sexualised by his school environment and choice of music, said the prosecution.

“So desperate was the accused’s desire to discredit the victim that the defence even submitted that it was the Halloween scary atmosphere that caused the victim to imagine that the accused had placed his mouth over the victim’s penis,” said Koh.

The defence had also suggested that the boy was upset with the accused for having interrupted a live telecast of a rugby match, said the prosecution.

Dressed in a blue long-sleeved shirt, the accused was seen shaking his head and rolling his eyes at various junctures while the prosecution spoke.

His lawyer, Selva Kumara, urged the court not to convict his client based solely on the victim’s testimony unless it was “unusually convincing”, adding that there was “inescapable evidence” that the victim’s testimony did not meet this criterion.

The case has been adjourned to a later date for a verdict to be passed.

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