He went to a friend's house to borrow a carrom board and ended tryihng to rape his friend's sister.
Yesterday, cleaner Anis Abdul Ghani, 38, was sentenced to eight years in jail and 12 strokes of the cane for attempting to rape the 29-year-old woman.
A second charge of attempted robbery was taken into consideration by Justice Lee Seiu Kin. The judge also ordered that no details that could lead to the identity of the victim be published.
The High Court heard that at 7am on Sept 30 last year, Anis went to the flat and found that the woman was alone at home. He said that he needed to use the toilet. He returned to the living room with a knife that he took from the kitchen, intending to rob her.
She protested she did not have any cash at home. At that point, he pushed her into the bedroom. Fearing for her life, she allowed him to pull down her shorts.
After his failed attempt to rape her, he covered her face with a pillow to muffle her cries so that neighbours would not hear her. Later he allowed her to sit up, and told her not to go to the police or he would kill himself.
She promised she would not involve the cops, and he went to the kitchen to put the knife back.
After apologising to her, he left.
She then called the police and he was arrested the same day.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Cassandra Cheong read out a psychiatric report that noted he was sexually attracted to the victim.
In another report, Dr Manu Lal of the Institute of Mental Health said that the woman was traumatised for several months after the incident.
Anis, a father of five children aged two to eight, said he was extremely remorseful for what he had done.
While noting that Anis was armed with a knife and had violated the victim in the sanctity of her own home, Justice Lee said that there were no serious injuries.
The sentence was backdated to Oct 2 last year, when Anis was placed in remand.
