Jail, caning for British trio who sexually violated woman
Khong Tam Thanh (left) and Michael Le (right), two of three Britons on trial for gang raping a Singaporean woman at Carlton Hotel when they were in the Republic for a music festival in Sept 2016, arriving at the Supreme Court. Photo: Robin Choo/TODAY
SINGAPORE — Lambasting three Britons for their “reprehensible” conduct towards a drunk and unconscious woman they took turns to sexually violate, a High Court judge on Tuesday (Aug 15) sentenced them to jail for five-and-a-half to six-and-a-half years, and five to eight strokes of the cane.
Vu Thai Son, 24, Khong Tam Thanh, 22, and Michael Le, 24, had on Monday pleaded guilty to reduced charges of aggravated outrage of modesty, four days into their trial for rape. It was not mentioned in court why their charges were reduced.
Vu, who had the stiffest sentence of six-and-a-half years’ jail and eight strokes of the cane, was the most culpable of the three, said Judicial Commissioner Hoo Sheau Peng.
He did not use a condom when he was sexually assaulting the woman, exposing her to “the risks of an unwanted pregnancy and contracting sexually transmitted disease(s)”.
Khong was sentenced to six years’ jail and eight strokes of the cane, while Le, 24, was jailed five-and-a-half years with five strokes of the cane.
Khong and Vu were also convicted on Monday of an additional charge of molesting the victim, who cannot be named due to a court order.
JC Hoo noted the “disturbing facts” of the case and said the men took advantage of their victim’s vulnerable state. “While she was asleep, and quite unable to protect herself, they took advantage of her vulnerable state so as to commit these serious sexual crimes,” she said. “Purely to obtain sexual gratification, they violated the victim. In doing so, they showed no respect for her dignity and autonomy, and no regard for any harm and hurt they might cause to her.”
The three men, who are of Vietnamese descent, arrived in Singapore with friends on Sept 9 last year to celebrate Khong’s brother’s stag-night. The group stayed at Carlton Hotel and went to Zouk nightclub that night. A member of the group, Mr Ahn Viet Trinh, also known as Richard, met the 23-year-old Malaysian woman and later had consensual sex with her in his hotel room.
The woman fell asleep and Mr Ahn later let Khong into the room, where he molested and sexually assaulted her. Khong left the door ajar and Vu went in to molest and have unprotected sex with her.
Le was the third to enter the room and the victim woke up and saw him sexually penetrating her. The victim later called a friend to pick her up and a police report was made.
The judge, however, noted the trio’s remorse — each writing a letter of apology to the woman — and lack of violence or premeditation.
JC Hoo also noted their plea of guilt, which “spared the victim the agony of testifying and being subject to cross-examination by three defence lawyers”, and said it was a “weighty mitigating factor”.
The prosecution had sought a six-year jail term, with caning, for Le, and seven years’ imprisonment, with caning, for both Khong and Vu. The families of Khong and Le, including the former’s daughter and the latter’s nephew, were present in court yesterday.
Khong will start his sentence on Aug 22 after the judge allowed him to spend a week with his family, who had flown in from the United Kingdom.
Le will start serving his jail term on Aug 18, after spending a few days with his family. Vu, who has been in remand since Sept 21 last year, will have his sentence backdated.
For aggravated outrage of modesty, each faced a jail term of two to 10 years, and caning.
