Trial of 3 British men who allegedly raped Malaysian woman in hotel begins

She agreed to have sex with one man in a hotel room after they met at a club. But she was then raped by three of the man’s friends who took turns to sexually assault her while she was intoxicated and lying unconscious.

The three Britons of Vietnamese descent, beauticians Khong Tam Thanh, 22 and Michael Le, 24, and Vu Thai Son, 24, unemployed, are accused of raping the 22-year-old Malaysian woman – who cannot be named due to a gag order – on 10 September 2016. They had arrived in Singapore on 9 September for Khong’s brother’s stag party and to attend the music festival Ultra Singapore.

All three, who are claiming trial, appeared in the dock for the first day of the trial at the High Court on Tuesday (1 August). Vu was dressed in a white prison shirt while the other two, who are on bail, were dressed in suits.

All three face one count of rape each, while Vu and Khong face one more count of sexual assault through digital penetration. Both the rape and the sexual assault charges each carry a maximum jail sentence of 20 years with fine or caning.

A fourth person, Ahn Viet Trinh, also known as Richard – the 24-year-old man whom the woman initially agreed to have sex with – absconded the country before investigations were completed even though his passport was impounded by the police. Richard, who is also a British citizen of Vietnamese descent, is still at large.

The prosecution, represented by Deputy Public Prosecutors G. Kannan, Stella Tan, Raja Mohan and Tan Zhi Xiang, said at the opening of the trial that the woman, who works as a marketing and corporate communications officer in Malaysia, met Richard for the first time at Zouk nigtclub on the night of the incident. The two returned to Richard’s room at Carlton Hotel where they had consensual sex. After the woman fell asleep on the hotel bed, the three accused took turns to rape the woman “in quick succession”.

When Richard and the victim met, he was with several friends including the three accused. During their time at Zouk, the woman danced and spoke with Richard. At one point, the woman, who was drunk, suggested that they return to Richard’s room and Richard agreed.

After taking a taxi to Carlton Hotel, Richard, who shared a room with his friends, told the woman that he would tell his friends not to enter the room. Richard and the woman engaged in several rounds of consensual sex from 2.30am onwards in room 1660 on the 16th floor. The victim then fell asleep in Richard’s arms in the room.

According to the prosecution, by the time Richard and the woman finished sexual intercourse in the room, the three accused were gathered in room 1652 on the same floor, with several other friends.

The prosecution described how one accused entered room 1660 after the other had finished his turn “like clockwork” beginning with Khong.

At about 4am, Richard allowed Khong to enter room 1660 while he left. Khong raped and digitally penetrated the unconscious woman. He left 25 minutes later. The next to enter was Vu, who did the same acts to the woman and also left another 25 minutes later.

The last person to enter the room was Le, who “nonchalantly” entered within a minute after Vu’s departure, undressed, got into bed where the woman was lying naked, and raped her. The woman woke up midway through the rape and confronted Le. They had an argument when Le allegedly told the woman that he was the person that she had come back with to Carlton Hotel that night. Le left the room at about 5.05am.

Richard returned to the room at 5.20 am and the woman confronted him as she suspected that he was involved in the incident. However, Richard denied having knowledge of what had happened. The woman left the hotel at 6.30am.

The prosecution said that it would produce CCTV recordings that capture the conduct of the three accused persons entering and leaving room 1660. The recordings are “consistent with all three accused persons entering room 1660, expecting that (the woman) would not be awake at the material time.

“The door is left ajar to avoid making any noise in opening and closing the door which may awaken the woman,” said DPP Kannan.

The CCTV footage will show that Khong was seen rushing in a state of undress from Room 1660 to Room 1652 after he allegedly raped the woman. Vu was also seen rushing in the same manner from room 1660 to 1652. From this it can be inferred that Khong wanted Vu to have his turn before the woman awoke and similarly, Vu wanted Le to have his turn, said the prosecution.

The prosecution will also be submitting messages from a shared chat group that includes the three accused. In one message, Le said that he had sexual intercourse with the woman, which is a “critical admission” that corroborates the woman’s evidence to the act of penetration. The chat can also be relied upon to show that the woman was not awake when Le had sex with her, and that she only woke up midway through, said the prosecution.

The woman will testify that while she felt some sensations of sexual intercourse and digital penetration after she had fallen asleep, she thought that Richard was the one in the bed throughout.

Prosecution will call 24 witnesses including the woman’s two friends, whom she spoke to about the incident.

The trial is slated to run until 14 August before resuming at the end of August.

Each of the three accused is represented by a lawyer – Khong by Shashi Nathan, Vu by Kalidass Murugaiyan and Le by Ramesh Tiwary.