SINGAPORE: A 48-year-old man went on trial on Tuesday (Feb 3) for raping a foreign domestic worker after he posed as a police officer and lured her away from her friends.
Sharveen Chetty, a former SBS Transit employee, faces two charges of raping the woman at some bushes outside Exit F of Little India MRT station, and a charge of impersonating a police officer.
SBS Transit said in response to a query from The Straits Times that Chetty, a Malaysian, has not been working with the transport operator for more than three years.
On Feb 3, prosecutors told the High Court that Chetty was on patrol duty near the MRT station slightly before 8pm on July 11, 2022, when he noticed a group of migrant workers at a grass patch.
The group included the alleged victim, who was then 35 years old, and her boyfriend.
The prosecution alleged that Chetty deliberately isolated the victim from the group.
Chetty allegedly pretended to be a police officer when he approached the group and asked for identification, which led three of them to hand over their work permits.
He kept up the false pretence by using his body-worn camera to act as though he was scanning their work permits.
When he asked for the victim’s identification, she handed over a letter from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) confirming that her application for a foreign worker was approved.
She also complied with his instructions to hand over her phone to him.
The prosecution said the man then told the victim to follow him and the group to stay. All of them complied.
Chetty then took the victim to some bushes and kissed her after making sure that no one was around.
The prosecution said she resisted initially. But after Chetty made various threats to the effect that he would create difficulties for her and her friends to remain working in Singapore, she followed his instructions.
Chetty allegedly forced her to perform oral sex on him before he made her lie on the grass and raped her again.
He later returned her phone and the MOM letter to her.
Immediately after the alleged rapes occurred, the woman told her friends that Chetty was a fake policeman.
This culminated in the police being involved, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Marcus Foo.
The prosecution’s witnesses include a doctor from KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, who examined the victim the day after the incident, and an analyst from the Health Sciences Authority, who will give evidence on his findings relating to Chetty’s DNA that was found on the victim’s underwear and a swab of her thigh.
Chetty is defended by Mohamed Baiross. - The Straits Times/ANN
