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SINGAPORE: A young woman who claimed to have been sexually abused by a Singapore Management University (SMU) student during an evening study session on campus took the stand on Monday (September 7) and told the court that ” weird “and” uncomfortable it felt. ” “after his alleged advances on her.
The identity of the woman, who is now 22, is protected by a gag order.
The defendant, Lee Yan Ru, 24, is contesting a charge of using criminal force against her by rubbing her private parts on her chest in a study hall at the university on January 8 last year.
Prior to this, he allegedly touched the woman under a table, followed her into the ladies’ room, and put his arm around her in the school elevator.
After the alleged crime, Lee wiped the woman’s neck, face and hair with tissue paper before the woman spoke to a security guard and called the police.
Later, Lee’s semen was found in swabs extracted from tissue paper and from the woman’s neck and face.
THEY MEET ON INSTAGRAM
The woman, who is a student at another university, said she met Lee on Instagram a week or two before the incident. She had posted a photo of herself wearing a pair of sunglasses, and Lee offered to buy them for her, she said.
“I said no, because I have a boyfriend,” said the woman. In explaining her response, she said that men generally “get the hint” when told this and back off.
Lee also offered to take her out for lunch, but she refused. They continued to chat about their mutual friends and the school, as she “didn’t want to be rude or ignore him.”
“I mean, there is nothing wrong with making friends and talking to someone,” he said.
They continued chatting on the social media platform and later moved to the Telegram messaging service. Lee complimented her by calling her “pretty,” the woman said, but didn’t take this as an expression of interest.
The day before the alleged crime of sexual abuse, the woman told Lee that she was going to study at Kith Cafe on Millenia Walk.
Lee suggested going to the Kith Cafe at SMU so they could meet up, and she agreed.
During the study session, Lee sat next to her and punched her in the rib, she said.
“I felt uncomfortable. I didn’t really know how to act, because if it was someone I didn’t know, I would have moved or left the place, but considering the nature of our relationship and how we had mutual friends, I didn’t know how to respond,” he said.
She also said it would have been easy to move if a stranger had done that to her, but since they had about 20 friends in common, she “didn’t want to be rude or leave a bad impression.”
Lee returned to school about half an hour later and they continued chatting on Telegram about their mutual friend, the woman said.
They met again later that night, after Lee asked what he was doing. The woman said she was finishing a lab report and he asked to meet to work together.
Explaining her reason for agreeing, the woman said she was feeling sleepy and thought that meeting someone else would keep her from falling asleep at home and that it would be “a way of forcing me to complete my homework.”
The prosecutor asked the woman why she did not ask her boyfriend to accompany her.
“My boyfriend is a medical student from NUS (National University of Singapore). The next morning, he had clinics, where he was attached to a clinic, and he had to report at 6 in the morning, so he had an early night “replied the witness.
She added that her boyfriend didn’t know she would meet Lee as he had fallen asleep before she could tell him.
He met with Lee in the SMU School of Economics and Social Sciences building between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m. on January 8, 2019.
She thought they were going to their usual study place in the library, and was “quite surprised” when he led her to another room.
LEE’S ALLEGED ADVANCES ON HER
A short time later, Lee allegedly used his foot to reach the woman under the table, resting his heel on her thigh, an act he repeated.
Feeling “weird and uncomfortable” and thinking it was “pretty unsanitary”, the woman pushed her foot off.
She said she was “at a loss for words” and added: “I felt really uncomfortable and I’m not really verbal when I feel uncomfortable.”
Once he was done with his work, he moved to lie on his back on the floor and watched a show on his laptop.
Despite being told by the woman to get on with her work, Lee joined her on the floor. At about 2 a.m., they moved under the table to continue watching the show while the lights hurt their eyes, and they lay on their stomachs watching the movie shoulder to shoulder, the court heard.
When the show ended around 4 a.m., the woman alleged that Lee tickled her again and reached her from behind and abused her under her clothes.
She was “quite shocked” and didn’t know how to react, so she asked Lee to take her somewhere where she could smoke a cigarette, she said.
The court was shown closed-circuit television footage of the couple entering and leaving the study room before returning.
Explaining her change of blouses as seen in the pictures, the woman said that she had changed to a red blouse sometime before the movie in the hallway of the room, which was L-shaped, where Lee could not see it.
She is shown giving what she described as a “playful kick” to Lee as they headed for the smoke break. She said she did this to break the tension.
WHY WASN’T IT LEFT?
When asked why she didn’t leave, the woman said, “It was midnight and there was no means of transportation, and I didn’t want to make a bad impression either.”
“I didn’t want to make him feel bad. I didn’t want to do hostile things.”
“Usually if it was someone I didn’t know, I would have gotten up and left. But this was different because we already met, so I didn’t feel like saying anything or leaving. Considering we were alone in the house. school … the last thing I wanted was to make him an enemy, “he said.
During one of his two smoke breaks, Lee put his arm around her waist, the woman testified. She said she “felt bad because I’m attached” and walked away but didn’t say anything because she was embarrassed and didn’t want to embarrass him either.
Another CCTV video of the couple in the elevator showed them holding hands, fingers intertwined before the woman withdrew her hand.
She explained that Lee had taken her hand and she had let it go, trying to “remove her finger” as she felt that he was “trying his luck”.
After this, Lee allegedly followed the woman into the women’s bathroom when she said the men’s bathroom was too far away and also tried to kiss her when they returned to the classroom, the woman said.
He said he tried to push her down onto the table, but she resisted. The woman also alleged that Lee tried to kiss her about three more times, but failed, before hugging her “very tightly.”
She said she suspected Lee later exposed himself and placed her private parts on her thigh as something that felt “warm” but didn’t look down because she didn’t want to see it.
She asked to leave, first she said it was really hot and then she changed to say she wanted to smoke again, but Lee allegedly told her to kiss him first.
The hearing ended Monday night before going into the details of the actual crime that constitutes the charge, and will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Lee is represented by attorneys Thong Chee Kun, Ms. Josephine Chee and Mr. Jonathan Oon of Rajah & Tann.
If convicted of sexually abusing the woman, he can be imprisoned for up to two years, fined, flogged, or any combination of these penalties.
CNA has contacted SMU for more information.
