Judge clears man of rape, criticises police investigation

[skyleon]

Selina Lum, The Straits Times


Apr 13, 2017 06:00 am
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Police investigations into a report of rape "should have been carried out better than they were", said a High Court judge, as he cleared a 57-year-old man of raping the daughter of his live-in lover.

No photographs had been taken by police of the interior of the cabin of the prime mover where the rapes had allegedly taken place. This would have been "important evidence", said Senior Judge Kan Ting Chiu.

Only photos of the exterior were taken and the vehicle was later scrapped.

The alleged victim, now 23, had claimed that over a period of two years, when she was between 15 and 16, the accused would drive her to a forested area in Punggol in a prime mover. She was molested and raped on the rear bench, behind the front driver's and passenger's seats, she said.

In court, she described the bench as having a "cushion" that could sit four persons. The cabin was furnished with curtains stretching along the side windows and the windscreen, she said.

But the accused disputed her description. He said dirty tools and equipment would be placed on the bench.

His employer, a prosecution witness, confirmed the equipment would take up half the seat and the inside of the cabin would be filthy with oil stains.

In his judgment, Justice Kan said that based on the description of the accused and his employer, the cabin was not a place where the accused could carry out the acts described by the alleged victim.


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