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SINGAPORE: A man accused of sexually abusing a woman on a Singapore Airlines flight from Japan to Singapore was acquitted of the charge on Tuesday (September 15), after the judge found that the woman’s testimony was not strong enough. for a conviction based solely on him.
He found that the account of the US citizen Roberto Eduardo De Vido, 56, was coherent and accepted it as “a truthful account of what happened during the flight.”
Mr. De Vido had testified that he was sleeping and explained his routine during the flight, on which he traveled frequently, District Judge Bala Reddy said.
De Vido was accused of sexually abusing a 25-year-old woman, whose identity is protected by a gag order, during a flight on a Singapore-controlled plane in June last year from Japan’s Haneda Airport to Changi Airport.
He was accused of using criminal force on the woman, who was sitting next to him, touching his left thigh and groin and outraging his modesty.
In order for the charge to be brought, the prosecution had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant used criminal force against the woman and that he did so in the knowledge that it was likely to violate the woman’s modesty, the judge said.
In sex crimes where the only evidence in court is a mere accusation against a simple denial by the defendant, the court must be satisfied that the plaintiff’s evidence is unusually convincing before it can convict the defendant, he said.
THE WOMAN’S ACCOUNT
In this case, the woman alleged that Mr. De Vido had touched her twice after the plane’s lights went out.
She alleged that her hand touched her left thigh before moving upward in a “crawling” motion, proving it in court.
She said that she initially thought he had touched her by accident, so she told him about it and moved her hand to her seat.
A short time later, she said her hand “slowly crawled up again from above the knee” to her inner thigh and groin.
Not knowing what to do, she said she crossed her legs and leaned over, feeling uncomfortable for the rest of the flight.
Mr. De Vido had testified that he struck up a conversation with the woman shortly after the flight took off, moving to the middle seat from his assigned aisle seat to continue chatting.
She did not object, and he asked her about her trip to Japan and her subsequent travel plans, recommending some good restaurants in Bangkok and entering the details on the woman’s phone.
“Notably, he also included his name and mobile phone number in the entry,” the judge said.
Mr. De Vido stated that the conversation ended when he closed his eyes and went to sleep. He said he woke up an hour before landing and used the bathroom, signaling to the woman if she wanted help retrieving her bag from the overhead compartment, but she refused.
“I found that there were serious doubts in (the woman’s) testimony as well as weaknesses in the way this case was investigated,” Judge Reddy said.
PROBLEMS WITH YOUR EVIDENCE
He said he found his evidence “highly unsatisfactory and in some respects incredulous.”
“Having carefully observed her statement and also her demonstrations, both during the questioning in chief and during the cross-examination, I have no doubt that she is a completely unreliable witness whose testimony cannot support a conviction for a sex crime”, said. said.
He explained that the description of the woman and the demonstration of how the contact took place was “implausible”, as he could not see how Mr. De Vido could have reached out with his hands twisted in such an uncomfortable position to touch her. .
While noting that there is no prescribed way in which victims of sexual assault are expected to act, the judge said one of the most striking factors was that the woman made no attempt to draw attention to what was allegedly a “very distressing and disturbing sexual situation”. attack on her. “
“She was on a Singapore Airlines flight with a predominantly Singaporean crew. She alleged that despite her efforts to dissuade the accused from touching her, he continued to persist and she did nothing to ask the crew or anyone around her for help. “, said. he said, adding that the woman “could not offer a credible answer as to why she had not alerted a crew member, or simply got up from her seat and freed herself from the torment.”
The woman was also not traveling for the first time and was familiar with the controls in the cabin, and could at least have pressed the call button to seek help.
When the flight landed in Singapore, it also made no attempt to draw attention to what had allegedly happened to it, the judge said.
The woman’s original statement about what happened was also different from her account in court.
“On a sex crime charge like this one, in which the victim gives an account to the court of the actual act of sexual abuse that is critically different from her earlier statement and cannot explain the fresh and vivid account that is not mentioned in her previous statement, the The court has serious doubts about its evidence, “said the judge.
He also said the woman had embellished her account while giving testimony on the stand and did not give details of the incident to a friend she called after the landing, even though she knew it was a police officer.
On the other hand, it found Mr. De Vido’s testimony to be truthful and consistent, and said that it would have made no sense for him to provide his contact details if he was preparing to abuse the woman.
“I was strengthened by my conclusion that the defendant had given a truthful account of the events during the flight for his conduct and actions even up to the moment of getting off the flight when he offered to bring (the woman’s) luggage from the overhead compartment and she politely saying ‘no thanks,’ which is consistent with his denial of any wrongdoing, “Judge Reddy said.
“That defendant’s conduct is clearly not that of a person who had just sexually abused (the woman).”
Mr. De Vido was defended by attorneys Wendell Wong, Benedict Eoon and Evelyn Tan of Drew & Napier.
Had he been convicted of the charge, he would have faced a maximum jail term of two years, a fine and a beating.
