The self-represented man disputed the prosecution's point that it was an aggravating factor that the victim was raped in her own home, saying that it was also his home.
A view of the Singapore skyline next to the Supreme Court in Singapore July 1, 2019. (File photo: REUTERS/Edgar Su)
A view of the Singapore skyline next to the Supreme Court in Singapore July 1, 2019. (File photo: REUTERS/Edgar Su)
SINGAPORE: After repeatedly failing in his pursuit of a relationship with his female housemate, a man accosted the woman and raped her before apologising and asking for forgiveness.
Iranian national Keivan Motallebi, 34, was sentenced on Wednesday (Nov 4) to 10 years' jail and six strokes of the cane.
He pleaded guilty to one count of rape, with a second similar charge taken into consideration.
The victim, whose identity is protected by gag order, arrived in Singapore from China on Jan 15, 2021. She rented a bedroom in a location that was redacted from court documents, from a female landlord who occupied the master bedroom.
The court heard that Motallebi moved into the unit in January 2023 and stayed in the master bedroom with the female landlord, who was not named. The nature of Motallebi's relationship with the landlord was not disclosed in court documents.
Motallebi first encountered the victim, then a 26-year-old Chinese national, in the kitchen the same month Motallebi moved in.
At about 7pm on Jan 30, 2023, the victim arrived home after work. The landlord and another tenant were not in the unit.
Motallebi knocked on the victim's bedroom door and invited her to chat in the living room.
Sitting on the sofa, they shared information about themselves. The victim told Motallebi she was single, after he asked her about this.
He then asked her to be in a relationship with him, saying he liked her.
The victim said she needed time to consider this and returned to her bedroom.
The next day, when the victim returned home, Motallebi approached her twice and again floated the relationship request. The victim turned him down.
A while later, she heard a knock on her bedroom door and opened it to see Motallebi standing outside fully naked.
Shocked, the woman tried to close the door, but Motallebi pushed his way in and carried her to the master bedroom against her will.
He raped her despite the woman's protests.
After this, Motallebi apologised to the victim and asked if she would forgive him.
She said she was too scared and wanted to have a shower. She later discovered a small cut on her finger from the struggle.
The victim lodged a police report shortly after, saying she had been raped.
SENTENCING
Deputy Public Prosecutors Rimplejit Kaur and Adelle Tai sought nine-and-a-half to 10-and-a-half years' jail, with six strokes of the cane.
Ms Kaur said Motallebi had raped the victim in her home, which should have been a safe sanctuary for her.
Rape is a heinous crime that leaves indelible psychological and emotional scars on the victim, said Ms Kaur.
Motallebi was unrepresented but had filed nine pages of written submissions to the court.
Asked if he had anything to add, Motallebi said he wished to say that he was very sorry.
"I wish I could change the past, but I cannot do that," he said. "So I wish to seek leniency, your honour, before giving punishment, and a chance for change in the future. A second chance, your honour."
He then addressed the point the prosecutors had made how it was an aggravating factor that the rape was carried out in the victim's home.
"The difference in my own view is that I was also residing in the unit," he said, comparing the case with that of Koh Lee Hwa, a renovation contractor who raped a woman while at her flat to fix her lights.
"I was not there to do a repair or service job. It was my own home as well. I had the key. It was a shared house for four people, not only the victim's house," he said.
In sentencing, Justice Mavis Chionh reiterated that rape is a serious and heinous crime.
She said Motallebi's argument that he lived in the same flat was "beside the point".
"The commission of rape in a victim's own home is considered aggravating because a home is where a person to entitled to feel most secure," she said, adding that the security is destroyed by the commission of a violent crime within the confines of one's own home.
She said Motallebi's apology to the victim after raping her may suggest "some small degree of remorse", but she did not consider that it held "very much mitigating weight".
This was because it was not accompanied by any other conduct suggesting a willingness to take responsibility for the act, such as voluntary surrender to the police.
For rape, the offender could have been jailed for up to 20 years and fined or caned.