SINGAPORE: A 25-year-old man is on trial for repeatedly raping a teenage girl between November 2013 and January the following year.
Koh Rong Guang, believed to be the leader of a local gang, also allegedly forced the victim, then 13, to strip in public, before taking a picture of her in the nude.
The girl went to the police after she realised the picture, along with other compromising pictures of her taken by Koh, had been shared online.
She cannot be named due to a gag order.
At the opening of his trial at the High Court on Tuesday (Jan 16), Koh, who describes himself as “self-employed,” denied the 12 charges against him.
The charges include four for statutory rape, three for criminal intimidation, two for procuring or committing an indecent act with a child, and one each for sexual assault, assault, and circulating an obscene image.
In an opening statement, Deputy Public Prosecutors David Khoo and Sruthi Boppana said Koh was introduced to the girl by a mutual friend, Fu Yiming, in late 2013.
Koh was the “leader of (Yu’s) group” at the time, the prosecutors said. They spent a lot of time at Lot one shoppers’ Mall, as well as at a K-Box entertainment outlet nearby, they told the court.
In November or December 2013, prosecutors said, Koh accosted the girl at the K-Box outlet and raped her in a deserted stairwell.
He repeated his actions a few weeks later. This time, Koh threatened the teen with a spanner and forced her to perform oral sex on him before raping her, court documents state.
He then forced her to strip, and took pictures of her in the nude.
The third time Koh allegedly raped the victim was sometime in December 2013 or January the following year. Koh was with Fu and two other teenage boys – all part of his “group” – when he brought the girl to Block 672A Choa Chu Kang Crescent.
He took the girl to a higher floor, separating her from the group, and raped her in the stairwell, prosecutors allege.
Prosecutors said two of the boys will testify that they saw Koh having sex with the victim, and that he later “asked (them) to have sex with her (but) both of them declined”.
Koh later threatened the three boys with a knife to dissuade them from telling anyone he had raped the teen.
Soon after, on Jan 24, Koh told the girl to meet him somewhere. Afraid, she asked Yu to come with her, only for Koh to start raining punches on Yu when they arrived, prosecutors said.
When Koh threatened to hurt the pair with a brick, the frightened girl agreed to follow him to another stairwell, where he raped her again. When he was done, he forced Yu and the girl to pose in compromising positions, with Yu’s pants unzipped and the girl’s buttocks exposed, prosecutors told the court.
This was to “use as leverage against them,” the prosecutors said. Sometime in January, Koh sent the pictures – which he had made into a collage – to another man, who posted it online at Koh’s urging. Prosecutors said officers from the Technology Crime and Forensic Branch had uncovered evidence from two Samsung phones proving this.
The girl went to the police when she realised those pictures of her had been shared on social media.
The girl took the stand on Tuesday and testified against Koh behind closed doors. Yu, as well as the pair who witnessed Koh allegedly rape the girl, are also expected to testify.
Koh’s trial is expected to last eight days. He is represented by Mr Irving Choh.
If he is convicted of statutory rape, Koh faces eight to 20 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane.
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...13-year-old-girl-circulating-photo-of-9866432
Koh Rong Guang, believed to be the leader of a local gang, also allegedly forced the victim, then 13, to strip in public, before taking a picture of her in the nude.
The girl went to the police after she realised the picture, along with other compromising pictures of her taken by Koh, had been shared online.
She cannot be named due to a gag order.
At the opening of his trial at the High Court on Tuesday (Jan 16), Koh, who describes himself as “self-employed,” denied the 12 charges against him.
The charges include four for statutory rape, three for criminal intimidation, two for procuring or committing an indecent act with a child, and one each for sexual assault, assault, and circulating an obscene image.
In an opening statement, Deputy Public Prosecutors David Khoo and Sruthi Boppana said Koh was introduced to the girl by a mutual friend, Fu Yiming, in late 2013.
Koh was the “leader of (Yu’s) group” at the time, the prosecutors said. They spent a lot of time at Lot one shoppers’ Mall, as well as at a K-Box entertainment outlet nearby, they told the court.
In November or December 2013, prosecutors said, Koh accosted the girl at the K-Box outlet and raped her in a deserted stairwell.
He repeated his actions a few weeks later. This time, Koh threatened the teen with a spanner and forced her to perform oral sex on him before raping her, court documents state.
He then forced her to strip, and took pictures of her in the nude.
The third time Koh allegedly raped the victim was sometime in December 2013 or January the following year. Koh was with Fu and two other teenage boys – all part of his “group” – when he brought the girl to Block 672A Choa Chu Kang Crescent.
He took the girl to a higher floor, separating her from the group, and raped her in the stairwell, prosecutors allege.
Prosecutors said two of the boys will testify that they saw Koh having sex with the victim, and that he later “asked (them) to have sex with her (but) both of them declined”.
Koh later threatened the three boys with a knife to dissuade them from telling anyone he had raped the teen.
Soon after, on Jan 24, Koh told the girl to meet him somewhere. Afraid, she asked Yu to come with her, only for Koh to start raining punches on Yu when they arrived, prosecutors said.
When Koh threatened to hurt the pair with a brick, the frightened girl agreed to follow him to another stairwell, where he raped her again. When he was done, he forced Yu and the girl to pose in compromising positions, with Yu’s pants unzipped and the girl’s buttocks exposed, prosecutors told the court.
This was to “use as leverage against them,” the prosecutors said. Sometime in January, Koh sent the pictures – which he had made into a collage – to another man, who posted it online at Koh’s urging. Prosecutors said officers from the Technology Crime and Forensic Branch had uncovered evidence from two Samsung phones proving this.
The girl went to the police when she realised those pictures of her had been shared on social media.
The girl took the stand on Tuesday and testified against Koh behind closed doors. Yu, as well as the pair who witnessed Koh allegedly rape the girl, are also expected to testify.
Koh’s trial is expected to last eight days. He is represented by Mr Irving Choh.
If he is convicted of statutory rape, Koh faces eight to 20 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane.
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...13-year-old-girl-circulating-photo-of-9866432
