Singapore sentences burglar who raped victim to 21 years jail, caning

SINGAPORE, Nov 21 — He broke into the house with the intention to burgle. But seeing a young female occupant deep asleep, Muhammad Sutarno Nasir decided to rape her, physically beating her into submission.

What Sutarno, 30, did was heinous beyond description, said a High Court judge yesterday, who imposed a sentence of 21 years’ jail and 18 strokes of the cane.

“Words cannot fully express how much pain and suffering you inflicted on the victim... Basically what you have done to (her) is... such that you have wrecked her life and aspirations,” said Justice Chan Seng Onn.

After her ordeal on July 24 last year, the victim, 27, became so fearful of people barging into her room that she sleeps with the lights on and keeps a pair of scissors by her bedside, the court was told.

When she is left alone in a room, she would immediately look out for potential entry points for intruders and check them incessantly.

Calling for a deterrent and retributive sentence, the prosecution charged that Sutarno, who was working odd jobs when he committed the crimes, had caused “untold trauma and misery” to the victim, who cannot be named so as to protect her identity.

“Quite apart from the physical injuries inflicted (upon her), the victim also suffered irreparable damage to her personal life,” said deputy public prosecutor David Khoo, noting that Sutarno had raped her with “excessive force”.

“The physical, emotional and psychological damage wrought on the victim in this case is real and debilitating. While the physical scars may heal through the passage of time, the violent harm and psychological trauma inflicted by (Sutarno’s) actions persist, and their distressing long-term impact must not be underestimated,” he said.

Khoo also said Sutarno had brought grief to the victim’s grandmother, 75, who is her only housemate and had cared for her since she was two months old. Her grandmother was awakened by police officers arriving at their apartment that morning.

In a statement to the police, her grandmother said: “When the police woke me up from my sleep, I saw the blood on (the victim’s) face and my heart dropped. I was so shocked. When I asked her whether the guy raped her, she said, ‘Yes.’ That moment, I felt like fainting.”

The court was told that Sutarno had not specifically targeted the victim.

He was loitering around in a neighbourhood in the eastern part of Singapore in the early hours that day when he chanced upon an open window at the victim’s apartment. He climbed in, ransacked the living room, and took a handbag belonging to the victim’s grandmother.

As he ventured around the unit, Sutarno went to the victim’s bedroom and saw her sleeping. He decided to rape her before fleeing.

When the victim felt Sutarno brushing her on her right arm, she woke up with a start and screamed at the sight of him kneeling beside her.

Sutarno tried to silence her by covering her mouth and squeezing her neck but she continued struggling and making a din. Sutarno then rained blows on her face repeatedly.

Afraid that the physical assault would worsen, the victim feigned unconsciousness. Sutarno held back his punches after she became unresponsive, then undressed and raped her.

While she was “fully cognisant” of what was happening, the victim was “too fearful to do anything about it at this point”, she told a psychiatrist later.

After raping her, Sutarno fled, making off with items valued at S$4,023 (RM12,292.67).

As her mobile phone had been stolen, the victim sought help via Facebook.

A friend who saw her message called the police.

The victim was sent to the hospital and found with bruises over her face, lip, chest and arm, an abrasion on her neck and hymenal tears.

She was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder with “prominent, intrusive memories” of the event, according to a psychiatric report two months later. For example, she felt extremely terrified in the immediate aftermath of the rape that Sutarno would return to kill her.

Because of the rape, her thoughts that she was “unworthy of others” after her fiance broke up with her intensified, the court was told.

Yesterday, Sutarno was also sentenced to one count of possessing heroin.

Two housebreaking charges and three drug-related charges were taken into consideration in sentencing.

In pleading for leniency, defence lawyer Alice Tan said her client grew up in an “underprivileged background” and that his parents depended on him for livelihood.

He had also pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity available, Tan added.

Sutarno could have been jailed for 20 years and caned for aggravated rape. For housebreaking and theft, he could have been jailed 14 years. For possessing a controlled drug, he could have been jailed 10 years and/or fined S$20,000.