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SINGAPORE – A man accused of sexually assaulting his sister’s drunken friend after a night of partying claimed trial on Tuesday (September 29).
Norvan Tan En Jie, 24, allegedly committed the crimes while the victim, then 19, spent the night at the brothers’ apartment on Boxing Day 2016.
According to court documents, Tan attempted to kiss and abuse the victim that night. He also pulled down her pants and underwear in an attempt to rape her while she vomited in the kitchen bathroom upstairs.
Tan, co-founder of the food company Beef Bro, currently faces two counts of sexual abuse and one of digitally penetrating the victim and sodomizing her.
Victim unable to resist
The prosecution opened their case on Tuesday and told the Superior Court that Tan’s sister and the victim, both classmates from elementary school, returned to the brothers’ apartment at 5:42 a.m. on December 26, 2016 after a night of binge drinking in a bar and club.
The sister had arranged for the victim to stay overnight. Tan’s parents were sleeping when they entered the apartment.
The victim was very intoxicated and Tan’s sister had to help her go to the kitchen bathroom to vomit. He also helped the victim change out of her black dress into her sister’s shirt and shorts.
The sister then left the victim in the bathroom before going to Tan’s room. Tan himself had just returned home with two male friends after a night of drinking. While in Tan’s room, Tan’s sister asked to speak to one of Tan’s friends in private. So then she left her room.
According to the victim, while he was in the bathroom, Tan came in and spoke to him. She recognized his voice but did not respond to his words.
Then, Tan allegedly lifted the victim from behind and pulled her out of the toilet. He placed her on the sofa in the living room before kissing her on the lips, the prosecution said. The victim could not resist due to her drunken state. Then she went back to the bathroom when she felt nauseous again.
So then he followed her and took her to his sister’s bedroom. He placed her on his sister’s bed before abusing her under her shirt. She also digitally penetrated the girl, who couldn’t resist it. She then left the room as the victim ran back to the kitchen bathroom to vomit.
As the victim vomited, she felt someone pull down her shorts and underwear. He said he recognized Tan’s voice and struggled when he realized he was trying to rape her. He then allegedly sodomized her before leaving the bathroom.
Later, Tan’s sister came back for her friend and took the victim to sleep in her room.
According to Assistant Prosecutors Ng Yiwen, Sheryl Yeo and Asoka Markandu, the victim told her friends about her suspicions that it was Tan who had sexually assaulted her. She also texted Tan’s sister and the latter finally revealed that Tan had admitted to “touching” the victim.
The victim filed a police report on December 27, 2016, and Tan was arrested a day later.
The prosecution also claimed that there was evidence that Tan’s semen had been found on the back of the victim’s shirt. The victim’s DNA was also found on the front and back of the underwear Tan was wearing at the time.
Taking the stand is a doctor from the Institute of Mental Health, who will testify about the physical deterioration of the victim at the time of the crimes due to his acute alcohol intoxication, the prosecution said.
The defendant’s sister deleted the phone data
An Investigative Officer (IO) assigned to the case testified Tuesday that he was told that Tan’s sister confronted her brother after the victim informed the sister what had happened. So then she admitted to her sister that she had done something wrong.
On April 28, 2017, the IO contacted Tan’s sister to record a statement. After the statement was taken, the IO told Tan’s sister that she needed to get hold of her mobile phone. This upset Tan’s sister and caused the IO to talk to her father.
Before handing over the phone, and without the knowledge of the IO, Tan’s sister managed to perform a factory reset on her phone to delete all of her data. A forensic examination was conducted by telephone, but no data was recovered.
During the IO questioning, Tan’s lawyer, Amarjit Singh, argued that it was “impossible” for Tan to be after the woman and sexually penetrate her from that position. The IO disagreed as there was “a lot of toilet room” with space to the left and right of the toilet bowl. He said Tan could have changed the victim to commit the act.
