Advertisement

Trial begins for man accused of raping 13-year-old girl multiple times

(PHOTO: Getty Images)
(PHOTO: Getty Images)

A man accused of raping a 13-year-old girl multiple times has chosen to contest the charges against him.

Twenty-five-year-old Koh Rong Guang, who appeared in the High Court on Tuesday (16 January) for the first day of his trial, faces a total of 12 charges. These include three counts of raping the Secondary One girl between December 2013 and January 2014 at a staircase in Choa Chu Kang Centre.

He also faces two counts of raping the girl at the staircase of a HDB block in Choa Chu Kang Crescent on two occasions, once between December 2013 and January 2014 and another on 25 January 2014.

Koh is also accused of procuring the commission of an indecent act by taking sexually explicit photographs of the victim with his 16-year-old male friend. He also faces a charge for circulating a nude photo of the victim to the same male friend on 19 January 2014.

The self-employed man also faces one charge of criminally intimidating the victim, one count of criminally intimidating two friends who saw him having sex with the girl and one count of causing hurt to the aforementioned male friend.

Koh has denied all the charges. The victim, who is currently in a girls’ home, cannot be named.

According to past media reports, two other 18-year-old males, Bryan Ong Jing Chong and Alson Tan Yu Seng, have already been sentenced to reformative training in 2017 in relation to the case. Ong was convicted of abetting Tan in raping the girl while Tan was convicted of raping her.

In Koh’s case, the prosecution will be adducing 15 witnesses to show that towards the end of 2013, the girl became acquainted with Koh through a friend who was in his group. Koh was the leader of the group at the time.

The group spent a lot of time at Lot One Shoppers’ Mall and building next to it, which the group referred to as “Lot Two”.

The girl, who is now 17, will testify that on the first occasion, Koh accosted her at the K Box outlet in “Lot Two” regarding a dispute she had with the male friend’s then girlfriend. Koh isolated the girl at a staircase of the outlet before raping her.

A few weeks after this incident, Koh cornered the girl at the same location and threatened her by hitting the wall close to her face with a spanner. He allegedly forced her to perform oral sex on him before sexually assaulting her.

Koh then allegedly forced the girl to strip before taking a photo of her. He sent the image to his male friend via WhatsApp on 19 January 2014.

On a third occasion, Koh was with three other male friends when he brought the girl to the staircase of a HDB block in Choa Chu Kang Crescent. He took the girl to a separate floor, where he allegedly raped her. His three friends witnessed the rape.

Koh then asked two of his friends to have sex with the girl but they declined. Koh then threatened all three friends, telling them not to disclose what they saw.

On a fourth occasion, Koh asked to meet the girl at the same location. The girl brought the male friend along but Koh began assaulting him upon seeing him. After Koh threatened the girl and the male friend with a brick, the girl followed Koh to another floor as she feared he would harm them.

Koh allegedly raped the girl before making her and the male friend pose for sexually compromising photographs that Koh wanted to use as leverage against them. Koh then forwarded these pictures in a collage to a friend, who posted them on Facebook.

The eight-day trial continues on Wednesday.

More Singapore stories:

Man on trial for practising TCM without license after former patient dies

Woman who kicked, head-butted police officer jailed 3 months

Man who fatally assaulted temple helper gets 14 years’ jail, 6 strokes

8 women arrested in raid on Cuppage Plaza public entertainment outlets