Indian citizen gets 16 years in jail for raping student
Singapore: An Indian national has been sentenced to 16 years in jail and 12 strokes of the cane for raping a 23-year-old student in 2019. Chinnaiah Karthik, a 26-year-old sweeper, raped the student on May 4 in Kranji, a suburb of Singapore. He was convicted in this case on Friday.
According to the report of The Straits Times newspaper, the High Court was told that the accused Karthik beat the victim so brutally that even his family members could not recognize him when they went to meet him in the hospital.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Kyle Pillay said the victim reached Kranji late at night after catching the wrong MRT train on her way back to campus. She kept walking for 10 to 15 minutes while talking to her boyfriend on call, when Karthik came to her and asked if she was okay.
The victim tried to go back to the MRT station, asking him to leave her alone. Realizing that he was following her, she told her boyfriend, who told her to go to an open place and hail a taxi.
The woman decided to cross the road, but Chinnaiah caught hold of her at the road divider and punched her in the face and assaulted her.
After hearing her screams and noises on the phone, the boyfriend contacted her hall mate, who called the police.
According to The Times report, the accused took the victim to a wooded area, where he raped her, tried to strangulate her and ran away.
After regaining consciousness, the victim gathered courage and went to the main road and sat there crying until the police arrived.
Police officials conducted checks in nearby hostels and housing areas and caught Karthik the next day after the incident. His DNA samples were found on the victim’s clothes and body.
He was remanded to a mental health institution after a psychiatric evaluation found him unfit to stand trial, and he was acquitted on August 1, 2022.
He was reevaluated and found suitable to plea on January 16, 2023.
Deputy Public Prosecutors told the court that four years later, the victim is still suffering the emotional and psychological effects of the incident.
–IANS
