A Singaporean man's appeal against his conviction for rape and sexual assault was dismissed, with the Court of Appeal adding six months to his sentence because he reached the age where caning is no longer permitted.
The Court of Appeal in Singapore has officially dismissed the appeals filed by a convicted rapist, upholding both his conviction and the severe sentence imposed upon him.
The individual, identified as Koh, had previously been sentenced to twelve years and three weeks of imprisonment in November 2025 for a series of sexual assaults committed against a woman. In addition to the prison term, the original sentence included thirteen strokes of the cane, a punishment intended to serve as a strong deterrent and to provide a sense of justice to the victim.
However, due to the legal age limit for corporal punishment in Singapore, the court faced a challenge as Koh had turned fifty years old by the time the appeal was heard. Consequently, the justices decided to impose an additional six months of incarceration to compensate for the loss of the caning, ensuring that the deterrent effect of the sentence remained intact. The details of the case reveal a disturbing breach of trust.
The victim had hired Koh to perform renovation work on her flat back in 2015. In August 2021, while Koh was at the residence to carry out repairs on the lighting system, he allegedly assaulted the woman. The prosecution established that Koh hugged her without her consent before proceeding to rape her. During the initial trial, Koh attempted to argue that the sexual encounter was consensual, but the trial judge completely rejected this defense.
The judge noted that the victim's testimony was unusually convincing and was strongly corroborated by digital evidence, specifically messages she had sent to her friends immediately following the assault. These messages detailed the trauma she experienced and expressed her fear, leaving little room for the defense's claims of consent. During the appeal proceedings, defense lawyers Eugene Lee and Nichol Yeo from Nine Yards Chambers attempted to challenge the conviction by pointing out minor inconsistencies in the victim's account.
However, Justice Steven Chong was critical of this approach, stating that the court should not be bogged down by trivial discrepancies when faced with overwhelming evidence. Justice Chong highlighted the significance of the messages the victim sent to her friends on the day of the incident, emphasizing that one specific message referred to a particular act Koh had committed, accompanied by the victim stating she was terrified.
The Justice questioned how the defense could possibly rely on minor inconsistencies to undermine such objective, contemporaneous evidence. He further remarked on the invasive and intimate nature of sexual intercourse, arguing that it would be illogical for a woman to consent to such an act while simultaneously expressing fear in messages to her peers.
The defense also attempted to argue against the additional six months of jail time, suggesting that Koh could not have foreseen that he would be just under the age limit when the original sentence was passed, only to cross the age threshold of fifty before the appeal. They argued that the addition of prison time was unfair given the timing of the legal process.
Despite these arguments, Justice Tay, speaking for the court, dismissed the appeals against both the conviction and the sentence. The court reiterated that caning is a vital tool for deterrence in sexual offense cases and provides necessary solace to victims by ensuring the perpetrator feels physical pain. Since the law prohibits the caning of individuals aged fifty and above, the substitute jail term was deemed a necessary and fair adjustment.
The ruling underscores the Singaporean judiciary's commitment to protecting victims of sexual violence and ensuring that perpetrators face proportionate punishment regardless of the timing of their appeals
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