SINGAPORE — After returning home from having supper, a 20-year-old man found a foreign worker asleep at the void deck of the housing block where he lived.

Sree Kanth Murugan, who works in the hospitality industry, sexually violated the worker before running away when the victim woke up. 

On Monday (March 18), he pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault. Another charge of molestation will be taken into consideration for sentencing. 

The victim, a 34-year-old from India working in Singapore as a maintenance worker, cannot be named due to a court order protecting his identity. 

District Judge Carol Ling called for probation and reformative training suitability reports before her judgement on May 9. 

THE ASSAULT 

On Oct 27 last year at around 10.30pm, the victim chatted and drank three cans of beer with his relative at a void deck (ground floor) of a public housing block along Kim Keat Avenue.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Ho May Kim told the court that at around 1.30am, the victim's relative returned to his flat within the housing block to get ready for a flight the same morning.

While waiting for his relative to get ready so that he could get a ride back to his dormitory on the way to the airport, the victim fell asleep on a concrete slab. 

Slightly more than 30 minutes after the victim was left alone, Sree arrived and sat at a table near the victim. 

Sree then noticed the older man who was around five metres from where he was and could smell alcohol on him.  

He then paced for around three to five minutes near the victim, contemplating whether to touch the older man. 

He then molested the man before sexually assaulting him. 

The victim woke up to find his private parts exposed and Sree sitting at his feet. 

Sree ran off and the foreign worker chased him, but he managed to escape back to his home, which was nearby. He was later arrested on the same morning. 

PROBATION OR REFORMATIVE TRAINING

DPP Ho sought a report to assess Sree’s suitability for reformative training and told the court that probation would not be a “realistic” sentencing option, considering the “brazen sexual offence” that Sree had committed. 

She emphasised that Sree had “preyed” on the victim when he was sleeping and in a vulnerable state, and ran away once he was detected, even when the victim chased him. 

DPP Ho also argued that probation would have a “limited” effect in deterring Sree from committing such offences, and rehabilitation would be more effective in a structured environment such as reformative training. 

Reformative training is a regimented rehabilitative programme offered to young offenders under 21 and offenders will need to stay at a training centre to undergo various programmes.

Unlike probation and community sentences, those who are sent for reformative training will have a criminal record. 

Defence lawyer Asoka Markandu from law firm Anitha and Asoka said that he was “completely flabbergasted” at the prosecution’s objection to probation and instead asked for a probation suitability report to be done. 

He argued that sending his client for reformative training would be akin to placing him in a “den full of wolves”, adding that a probation officer would provide him with sufficient guidance. 

Mr Asoka said that sexuality issues are a big concern for young people today since the digital age has made youth more aware of such topics at a younger age, and that his client was “someone screaming for help”, which led him to “satisfy his urge” in such a public manner. 

In response, DPP Ho said that Sree was already at the “cusp of adulthood” when he committed the offence and that reformative training was an option that already took rehabilitation into consideration. 

District Judge Ling agreed with both the prosecution and the defence that rehabilitation would be the predominant consideration for sentencing and called for both suitability reports. 

Anyone who commits sexual assault involving penetration can be jailed for up to 20 years, and can also be caned or fined.