Rilek1Corner

Tag: Pramanik Liton

  • Bangladeshi MacRitchie Reservoir Rapist Jailed 17 Years, Gets 24 Rotan Strokes

    Bangladeshi MacRitchie Reservoir Rapist Jailed 17 Years, Gets 24 Rotan Strokes

    Bangladeshi construction worker Pramanik Liton was on Friday (May 19) sentenced to 17 years’ jail and 24 strokes of the cane for raping a hiker at MacRitchie Reservoir Park in 2015.

    Liton, 24, was convicted of four charges, including two counts of aggravated rape, one count of sexual assault by penetration and one count of abduction for illicit intercourse. Another two charges were taken into consideration. Prosecutors had sought a jail term of at least 20 years and 24 strokes.

    The construction worker had left his dormitory on the morning of Feb 8, 2015, armed with a 16cm-long knife and waited along the Lornie Trail for “easy prey”. When he spotted the victim walking alone, he approached her and struck up a conversation, pretending he needed directions.

    He asked the 40-year-old Chinese national to have sex with him, and when she refused, he pulled out the knife and used it against her. The court heard the woman lost consciousness at one point, when Liton covered her mouth and nose with one hand while pressing the knife to her neck with the other.

    He later raped her “so forcefully” that the woman screamed in pain, the prosecution said. Then Liton offered her S$50 to “buy medicine so she would not get pregnant”. DNA tests found his semen in the victim’s mouth and vagina and on her panties.

    “BIZARRE AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE” DEFENCE

    But Liton denied the charges, and on Thursday, insisted he did not touch the victim, much less rape her. He claimed then that he did not talk to her, but only made sounds.

    “I just tried to scare her and she died out of fear,” he said.

    “No woman should have to fear she may be abducted and raped at knifepoint while talking a walk in the park in broad daylight, most certainly not in Singapore,” Deputy Public Prosecutor Stella Tan said then.

    In finding Liton guilty as charged, Justice Choo Han Teck called his defence “bizarre and incomprehensible”. “First, it was an outright denial, which against the weight of the evidence seems to be a defence of desperation.

    “Secondly, you claimed the victim had died. Clearly she had not, or this would have been the world’s first supernatural trial. I see nothing supernatural, only a traumatised woman who has convinced me you had committed the offences upon which you are being tried,” he said.

    Justice Choo added the victim’s evidence was “clear, cogent and consistent” and supported by the forensic evidence and Liton’s own early statements to the police, which, at trial, he denied ever making.

    When asked whether he had anything to say after he had been convicted, Liton said he had “made a mistake that I did not plead guilty in the first place. And also did not engage a lawyer (sic)”. He pleaded to be given the “minimum sentence”.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Bangladeshi Foreign Worker Denies Raping PRC National At MacRitchie Reservoir Park

    Bangladeshi Foreign Worker Denies Raping PRC National At MacRitchie Reservoir Park

    A Bangladeshi man is on trial for allegedly abducting a hiker at MacRitchie Reservoir Park in 2015, forcing her off the Lornie Trail at knifepoint and raping her twice in a forested area.

    Construction worker Pramanik Liton, 24, denied the charges on Tuesday (May 16) at the opening of his trial. He faces four counts, including two for aggravated rape, one for sexual assault and one for abduction for illicit intercourse.

    The victim, a 40-year-old Chinese national, had been hiking the Lornie Trail alone on Feb 8, 2015, when Liton accosted her and asked her to have sex with him. When she refused, Liton pressed a knife to her throat, covered her mouth and forced her off the trail.

    He took her deep into the forested area off the trail, where he raped her twice at knifepoint and forced her into other sexual acts. She feared for her life and pleaded with Liton to let her go, the High Court heard.

    The ordeal lasted nearly two hours, from 1.45pm when the woman was abducted, until about 3.37pm when Liton threw the knife in the bushes and left the victim in the forest.

    She called her then-boyfriend for help. They met at the Mushroom Cafe near the entrance of MacRitchie Reservoir Park, and he took her to make a police report immediately.

    Trackers from the Gurkha contingent were sent into the forest to locate the scene of the crime and to recover the weapon.

    The crime scene was located at about 9.30pm the same day. The Gurkha who discovered the scene said the ground was flattened in places and pieces of tissue were littered around the area. The pieces of tissue were seized by the police, and tested positive for Liton’s semen.

    The knife was recovered the next day by another Gurkha and handed over to the police. A crime scene specialist lifted a fingerprint off the blade of the knife, which matched Liton’s. He was arrested on Feb 10 at the construction site where he worked.

    Blood samples were taken from both Liton and the victim, which allowed investigators to tie Liton to the rape. His semen was found on the victim’s panties, as well as on swabs taken from the victim’s mouth and vagina. His DNA was also found on the victim’s blouse, and hers was found on the knife.

    Prosecutors Stella Tan and Sruthi Boppana said they would adduce evidence from 44 witnesses to make their case, including the victim and her then-boyfriend.

    Liton is not represented. Through a Bengali interpreter, he told the court: “I don’t want any lawyer.” At one point, he also insisted he “doesn’t know anything about the knife”.

    The trial continues.

    If convicted of aggravated rape, Liton faces at least eight years in jail and a minimum of 12 strokes of the cane, per charge.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com