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WHEN we read about a rape, the details of the crime shock and horrify us.
But there is a deeper horror.
Often unspoken, hidden and intensely painful – it is the victim’s account of a shattered life.
Yesterday, a glimpse of what life has been like since the rape emerged during the trial of rapist Dai Yunfa, a Chinese national who worked here as a welder.
He was sentenced to 161/2 years’ jail and 20 strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to three charges of abduction with the intent to have intercourse, aggravated rape and resisting arrest
The court heard that the victim is now so fearful that the mere sound of footsteps behind her would send her into a panic. And she is able to sleep only when her flatmate is home.
The 25-year-old woman, also a Chinese national who is working here, cannot be named as she is a victim of a sex crime.
Reading out parts of her victim impact statement, Deputy Public Prosecutor Chua Ying-Hong said the woman, whose family is in China, blames herself for returning home late that fateful night and now tries to be home before 8pm.
Said DPP Chua: "She used to like working here and she used to think that Singapore was safe, but she no longer believes so."
In her psychiatric report, Institute of Mental Health associate consultant Dr Sujatha Rao noted that the woman was tearful and in a low mood for days after the rape.
She also had poor sleep and appetite and was startled easily.
There was an occasion when she started hyperventilating after she thought she saw Dai in a crowd.
The court was told that the woman has never had a boyfriend and was a virgin before the rape.
She is also worried that her future boyfriend or husband would have misgivings about her when he discovers that she had been raped.
This attack has deeply traumatised her and has "changed her life", the court was told.
She will no doubt be continually reminded of the attack as she commutes to and from her home each day, DPP Chua said.
The court heard that she was getting off a bus along the Ayer Rajah Expressway near the German Centre Singapore after 11pm on Sept 8 last year when Dai, who was walking by, saw her.
Feeling an urge to have sex with her, Dai grabbed her by her neck and dragged her into the nearby bushes.
The woman struggled and shouted for help but the place was deserted.
She was forced to the ground, with Dai sitting on her hips. She begged him to let her go, offering him her mobile phone and money, and told him to get a prostitute to satisfy his sexual urges.
In desperation, she even offered to perform oral sex on him. But her pleas were ignored.
Impatient, Dai choked her and asked angrily in Mandarin: "Do you want to die here?"
Fearing for her life, the woman relented and Dai raped her.
After that, he even had the audacity to ask her if she wanted to be his friend and offered her his mobile phone number.
But she told him that she did not want to see him again and did not take down the number.
The woman was initially so ashamed of what happened to her that she was reluctant to report the rape to the police. She was finally persuaded by a doctor she had gone to see the next day and made a police report at about 5pm.
An hour later, accompanied by two plainclothes officers, she went back to the rape scene and they saw Dai searching among the bushes.
Dai had gone back to look for the woman’s mobile phone which she had dropped during the struggle with him the day before.
He evaded arrest and ran when one of the officers approached him.
The officer sprained his right arm during the scuffle with Dai. The rapist was arrested the following day after he was traced to his dormitory.
Dai, who did not have a lawyer, appeared nonchalant and relaxed as the interpreter told him the sentence.
In his mitigation, the married man told the court that he is the sole breadwinner of the family and is supporting his aged parents. He has a 5-year-old son.
Urging the court to impose a sentence "which would adequately reflect society's abhorrence of the accused's heinous crime", DPP Chua said that Dai had not apologised to the victim and showed no remorse.
DPP Chua said that after raping the woman, Dai’s first question to the victim was "Are you going to lodge a report?".
This showed that his only concern was to evade the consequences of his actions, said DPP Chua.
For abduction with the intent to have intercourse, Dai could have been jailed 10 years and caned.
For aggravated rape, he could have been jailed 20 years and caned at least 12 strokes.
For resisting arrest, he could have been jailed one year and fined.
