[ad_1]
SINGAPORE – A woman who accused a Singaporean Management University (SMU) student of sexually abusing her on campus said she had pushed him away and dodged his attempts to kiss her earlier.
When he allegedly touched her, she ripped off his fingers. But she didn’t leave because there was no transportation this early in the morning and she didn’t want to make things awkward between them as they had mutual friends.
SMU student Lee Yan Ru, now 24, faces a charge of sexual abuse.
In the early hours of January 8 of last year, he is said to have stimulated himself while on top of the woman, who was asleep.
The woman, then 21, took the stand after lunch on Monday (September 7), the first day of Lee’s trial.
She testified that she met him around December 2018 when he messaged her on Instagram.
“It was very casual because we have mutual friends. He contacted me first,” she told District Judge Sharmila Sripathy.
The woman, who is studying at another university, cannot be named in gag order.
She said she told Lee she had a boyfriend, adding, “Usually when a girl tells a guy she has a boyfriend, (he) backs up and doesn’t make any headway.”
She then described what happened that night, saying her boyfriend didn’t know she was meeting Lee.
They had met at SMU’s Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences around 1 a.m. on January 8 last year to study.
In a study room, Lee was sitting near her at a table when he placed one of his feet on her left thigh, the court heard.
“It was weird and awkward … I grabbed his foot and pushed it off the ground,” he said.
But Lee repeated the same act a few more times, he added.
She then took her laptop and sat on the floor to watch a movie on Netflix, and Lee joined her.
The woman told Judge Sharmila that Lee later said the lights were “very bright” and suggested that they be placed under a table.
Around 2 am, while they were under the table, Lee “tickled” his armpit and used his hand to block it.
The woman said Lee then touched her body after the movie ended around 4 a.m. and had to remove her fingers.
When Deputy Prosecutor Andre Chong asked why she was not leaving, she replied, “It was midnight. There was no means of transportation.
“I didn’t want to leave a bad impression or make him feel bad. He didn’t want to do hostile things.
“If it was someone I didn’t know, I would have gotten up and left … I just didn’t feel like leaving.”
To “break the tension,” he suggested going for a smoke around 4:45 am.
As he left the building, the court heard that she gave him a “playful kick” as “the situation was tense” and tried to make it more “informal”.
But during the smoke break, she said Lee put his arm around her waist. She didn’t say anything, as she didn’t want to “embarrass him”.
They returned to school later and she said Lee followed her into a ladies’ room, adding that she went into a cubicle while he remained outside.
The court heard that they then returned to the study room. While sitting at a table, Lee tried to push her down.
She testified that he tried to kiss her three times but she dodged him each time.
She later suggested they go to another smoke break and he agreed to take her downstairs around 5.25am.
In proceedings earlier in the day, the court heard that the woman was allegedly sexually abused when she fell asleep.
After Lee got off her, he left the room and alerted the security guard Woo San Nin, who was on duty at SMU. She also called the police at 6.37am.
Woo, who also took the stand on Monday, said he saw a student kneeling as if he was apologizing to the woman.
The trial resumes on Tuesday.
If convicted of sexual abuse, the offender can be imprisoned for up to two years and fined or punished.
[ad_2]
