Man on trial for raping social escort after posing as police officer

SINGAPORE — After arranging to meet a social escort in a hotel room for a fee, a man allegedly impersonated a police officer, brandished a knife at her and raped her.

Ng Yi Yao, 32, went on trial on Tuesday (March 16) for two counts of aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual assault by penetration. He faces a fifth charge of impersonating a police officer, to which he intends to plead guilty.

The court heard that Ng had hired the services of a 25-year-old woman, whose identity is protected by a court order. She worked as a part-time social escort in February 2019 and provided sexual services to clients while holding a separate full-time job and studying for a degree.

Her agent, a person she knew as "Kelvin" and whom she had never met, arranged appointments with clients for her.

On Feb 21, 2019, Kelvin told the woman that he had a job for her at Harbour Ville Hotel at 8.15pm that day and asked her to check in to the room. He said that the client would pay her S$450, adding that she might have a second client at 9pm.

The woman went to the hotel located near Harbourfront and booked a room for two hours at about 8pm, paying S$40 for the accommodation. She waited in the room and Ng appeared, identifying himself as "Ivan".

The prosecution said that Ng showered and came out of the toilet naked. However, when the woman asked him for payment, he put his clothes back on and identified himself as a police officer, flashing what the woman thought was a flip-card holder at her.

He asked her for her phone and national identity card number, and the woman complied because she was afraid.

Ng purportedly began an audio recording and told the woman that there was a police operation. When the woman told him that she had another client that night, Ng used her phone to tell Kelvin that she was not feeling well and to cancel the next job. He did not answer follow-up calls from Kelvin.

Ng called the hotel receptionist for a change of rooms and continued to pretend to be a police officer, the prosecution said. He allegedly made remarks that the woman understood to mean that she had to perform sex acts on him to leave freely.

She rejected him and asked for his police identification card because she suspected that Ng was not who he said he was, but he refused to show it to her.

At about 10pm, the woman sent a phone text message to her friend: "Bro I can't make it tonight have smth on." This was a signal that something was amiss and that she was in trouble.

Ng allegedly changed his tone after refusing to show his police identification card to the woman, and told her to switch off the room lights or he would hurt her. The woman saw him holding a red Swiss Army knife and switched off the lights, before complying with his request to remove her clothes.

THE ALLEGED RAPE

Ng raped the victim after this, the prosecution said. The woman complied because she was afraid of the knife she had seen. She was also forced to perform sex acts on Ng and did not consent to any of the acts throughout, the prosecution added.

Deputy Public Prosecutors Mohamed Faizal, Selene Yap and Tessa Tan said that after the alleged sexual assault, Ng admitted that he was not a police officer.

He proposed moving in to stay with her, but the woman tried to end the conversation by saying that she needed to return home for assignments. After Ng got her phone number and took photos of the woman's identity card, he paid S$20 for the room and gave the woman another S$40.

He insisted on taking a taxi home with her, the prosecution said. After paying the taxi driver, he walked the woman to her flat and kissed her outside.

Immediately after entering her home past midnight, the woman called her friend and told him that she was raped. Her friend went over quickly and the woman called the police.

Ng was arrested later that day. The woman's DNA was found on his underwear and he was assessed at the Institute of Mental Health and found to be fit to plead.

A medical report issued in October 2019 found no strong evidence to suggest a diagnosis of erectile dysfunction.

The prosecution will lead evidence from 38 witnesses to prove the charges against Ng.

If convicted of aggravated rape, he could be jailed for between eight and 20 years and given at least 12 strokes of the cane. CNA

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CLARIFICATION: A previous version of this article said that Ng was a delivery driver of Redmart. Redmart has clarified that Ng had already left the company when he allegedly committed his offences.