Lev Panfilov, a Singapore permanent resident who was originally from Russia, will be sentenced at a later date. -- PHOTO: ST FILE
SINGAPORE (the Straits Times/ANN): A TikToker and former scriptwriter-actor with local YouTube comedy channel Wah!Banana was convicted by the High Court on March 21 for raping a woman he met on dating app Tinder.
Lev Panfilov, a Singapore permanent resident who was originally from Russia, was found guilty of two counts of rape, one count of sexual assault by penetration and one count of outrage of modesty.
The 28-year-old will be sentenced at a later date.
The assault took place on Jan 12, 2021, in his bedroom after he took the woman back to the flat he shared with his roommates to work on her script.
The woman, who was then 30 years old, had worked as an actress and model and was trying to branch into comedy writing.
The woman and Panfilov presented different accounts of the incident.
During the trial, which began in May 2023, she was cross-examined for an “unprecedented” 13 days, according to the prosecution’s written submissions.
The two were matched on Tinder and then moved their chat to WhatsApp, before arranging to meet in person in a restaurant in Robertson Quay.
She testified that his Tinder profile stated that he was either a writer or a scriptwriter, and she was hoping to get some advice on scriptwriting from him.
She said she also went on YouTube to verify his claim that he worked for the Wah!Banana channel.
At the restaurant, she opened her laptop and started working on her script with him.
She said after waiters came round to ask if they had any last orders, Panfilov suggested continuing working on the script at his place, and she agreed.
At his flat, he ushered her into his bedroom. They sat on his bed as they talked about comedic characters and watched videos of various comedians.
She said she sat on his bed because the room was otherwise rather cluttered.
The woman said he suddenly leaned in and kissed her on her lips, but she told him “no” and gathered her things to leave.
On Jan 16, 2021, she was still in pain from the assault, and saw a doctor, who advised her to make a police report.
The same day, she went to a neighbourhood police centre and spoke to several police officers but went home without lodging a report.
Around midnight on Jan 18, 2021, she finally told her mother what had happened to her. Her mother took her to the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and a police report was lodged.
Panfilov did not deny that he had sex with the woman, but said the encounter was consensual.
He said the woman made the first advances – she laughed at his jokes, tapped on his leg and stroked his thigh.
After they had sex, he asked for her address and booked a car on the Gojek app for her to get home.
The defence had sought to cast doubts on the woman’s account, questioning why she would give her address to her alleged rapist and why it took days before she saw a doctor and reported the matter.
She explained that she gave him her address as she just wanted to go home, and would have given him anything he wanted.
She said she was initially unsure if she would be believed because the assault happened behind closed doors and there were no witnesses.
She also did not feel encouraged about making a police report after reading articles about low conviction rates for sexual assault.
On March 21, High Court judge Pang Khang Chau found the woman to be an unusually convincing witness who gave a detailed and textured account that was internally and externally consistent.
He accepted that she had explanations for the issues raised by the defence.
On the other hand, Justice Pang found that Panfilov was not a credible witness, and that his testimony did not help in casting reasonable doubts on the prosecution’s case.
The judge said there were significant inconsistencies between what the man said to police officers, what he said in his video-recorded interviews, and what he said in court.
This was a sign of Panfilov’s attempt to distance himself from the events of that evening, said the judge. - The Straits Times/ANN
