SINGAPORE – A former auxiliary police officer thought that if the stranger that he was inviting to have sex with his unknowing, bound and blindfolded girlfriend was better looking than him, she would not get angry if she found out about it, a court heard on Tuesday (Nov 5).

That proved not to be the case, and by acting out of his sexual fantasy on two occasions at a hotel in 2016, the former officer was eventually sentenced by the High Court to 19 years and 11 months’ jail, with 24 strokes of the cane.

The girlfriend was in the dark over what happened the first time. But on the second occasion, the girlfriend realised that there were more than one pair of hands on her body, tore off her blindfold and saw to her shock that there was a stranger in the room, who then fled, an earlier court hearing was told.

The 28-year-old former officer — who cannot be named to protect the identity of his 28-year-old victim — had pleaded guilty last year to two counts of abetting the stranger, one Srihari Mahendran, to rape the victim, and another count of abetment of sexual assault by penetration.

He returned to court on Tuesday, this time to testify against Srihari, who has claimed trial over his alleged role in the incidents. The 23-year-old faces a total of 10 charges — four for rape, one for sexual assault by penetration, four for outrage of modesty and one for making an obscene film.

On the first day of the trial in the High Court, the older man — who is currently serving time in Changi Prison — gave evidence as Srihari sat hunched and emotionless in the dock, sometimes keeping his head lowered.

GOT TO KNOW EACH OTHER OUT OF ‘SHEER BOREDOM’

Examined by Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Yiwen, the man said that he had got to know Srihari in early 2016 through the microblogging website Tumblr.

Both men had been using the site to watch porn and were following each other’s accounts. Out of “sheer boredom” one day, the man said he decided to send a message to Srihari on that platform.

Eventually, their conversations started revolving around sexual fantasies. This was when the older man revealed to Srihari that his was to have a threesome — in other words, having sex with his girlfriend, alongside someone else.

‘WE WERE PARTNERS IN THIS’

The man said that Srihari showed “interest and keenness”, and was proactive in trying to find out more, despite knowing that the victim was not onboard with the idea.

While he was encouraged by Srihari’s eagerness, he was also curious about what the younger man looked like. He said that he recalled asking Srihari to describe himself and to send him a picture.

The man claimed that Srihari had told him then that he was 21, of average built and of “Arab descent”.

“I thought…this guy looks fine. I had asked for a picture of the lower part of his body just to get a better picture how he looks like,” he said.

When Mr Ng asked why he wanted to know what Srihari looked like, he said he was afraid that Srihari could be running a “scam”.

He also reasoned that if Srihari looked either “okay” or “better” than him, then the victim “wouldn’t be too angry” if she found out that she had been deceived into having sex with someone else.

The man said that he “trusted” Srihari. “I felt we were partners in this,” he said. “If he was not someone trustworthy, he would not ask to cover any aspect (of our plan, and) that would give away the game.”

One point that the older man had noted was that Srihari was a lot “hairier” than he is, which had to be factored into their planning.

Satisfied that their planning had reached a stage where “he knew what to do, I knew what to do”, the man told Srihari to be on “standby” on April 29, 2016.

FIRST MEETING

This would be the first time that both men would be meeting each other.

While the man and the victim were waiting for their room to be ready at Hotel 81 Bugis, he noticed that there was someone looking at him “suspiciously”.

The man said he realised that it was Srihari, as he knew that he was around the area and that “no one else would have that kind of eye contact” with him.

While Srihari did not look the way he had described himself to be, the man decided to proceed with his plan all the same.

When the man and the victim were in the hotel room, they proceeded to prepare to have sex. TODAY previously reported that both the man and his victim would regularly engage in soft bondage — a type of sexual practice — after watching the movie 50 Shades of Grey.

“I put the blindfold on so that she won’t know someone else was (in the room). I bound her hands so that she could not feel around, (and I made her wear) the pantyhose because (Srihari’s) body hair (and mine) are very different.”

The television was deliberately switched on to mask the sound of Srihari entering the room.

At this point, the man said he communicated with Srihari entirely through gestures as he did not want to alert the victim that there was a third party in the room.

The man said he proceeded to perform various sex acts with the victim and would stop halfway to gesture for Srihari to continue where he left off. These acts were filmed.

The court session, which lasted about two hours, was adjourned around noon and will resume on Wednesday. Srihari remains out on bail of S$50,000.