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Judge sets aside man’s attempted rape conviction, questions if he was ‘trying to bargain’ over sentence

SINGAPORE — A repeat offender who pleaded guilty last month to attempting to rape a 27-year-old tourist in her Hilton hotel room, as well as robbing another tourist of her mobile phone, told the court on Tuesday (Nov 12) that he no longer agreed with all the facts.

Isa Ahmad, 54, initially pleaded guilty to offences including attempted rape, but a judge at the district court set aside the conviction when Isa stated that he now disputed some previously agreed facts.

Isa Ahmad, 54, initially pleaded guilty to offences including attempted rape, but a judge at the district court set aside the conviction when Isa stated that he now disputed some previously agreed facts.

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SINGAPORE — A repeat offender who pleaded guilty last month to attempting to rape a 27-year-old tourist in her Hilton hotel room, as well as robbing another tourist of her mobile phone, told the court on Tuesday (Nov 12) that he no longer agreed with all the facts.

In a pre-sentencing report prepared for the judge, Isa Ahmad stated that he disagreed with several details of the offences he admitted to before — including the assertion that he stole the phone.

As a result of Isa’s second thoughts, Second Principal District Judge Victor Yeo set aside his conviction and sent the case back to a pre-trial conference in order to get new trial dates.

In the report, the 54-year-old former Orchard Hotel housekeeper was found suitable to serve preventive detention — a severe punishment imposed when the court is satisfied that a repeat offender should be locked away to protect the public.

The prosecution had asked for this form of punishment, while Isa’s lawyer KV Sudeep Kumar sought 12 years’ jail instead.

Isa has repeatedly committed offences, mostly theft, since 1988.

It would not have been the first time that Isa served preventive detention, as he was sentenced in 2002 to 14 years and 24 strokes of the cane for robbery with hurt. He broke the law again about half a year after being released.

TUESDAY’S HEARING

District Judge Yeo questioned Isa and his lawyer over the turn of events on Tuesday, saying the potential punishment had already been explained to him and that he had to consider what sentence the prosecution was asking for.

“This can’t be a case where he’s trying to bargain for a sentence from the court… Last time, he admitted to the statement of facts without qualification, but now that he’s looking at the suitability report for preventive detention, he’s denying the offences,” the judge added.

Through an interpreter, Isa said in Malay that he would like to plead guilty but objected to the statement of facts, which was “not true”.

He earlier claimed that he had been “cheated by the prosecution” and accepted their offer as “the judge’s name was used”.

Mr Sudeep clarified: “I think (I told him) that the judge would be more lenient with the sentence, if he pleaded guilty and saved his victim the trauma (of testifying in a trial).”

The lawyer also said that he had told his client that they could deal with all three of his charges “at one go”. Before pleading guilty, Isa had contested all of them, with a trial set for just one of the charges.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Gregory Gan objected to Isa’s assertion that the prosecution misled him, saying that “we had no communication with him”.

District Judge Yeo ordered a pre-trial conference to be held on Nov 19.

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Hilton Singapore hotel serial offender rape steal court crime

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