A 41-YEAR-OLD Singaporean port worker who pulled a Chinese national into his rented room in Geylang and raped her was sent to jail for eight years and ordered to be caned 10 strokes on Monday.
K. Mahendran will also have to serve another two weeks in prison for a separate incident - committed two months after the rape - in which he punched a hotel cleaner who was trying to wake him up after he had spent the night with a prostitute.
Although he is officially registered as living in a Housing Board flat, Mahendran had been living in a rented room in Geylang since early April last year.
Also staying in the same unit was a 25-year-old Chinese woman who came to Singapore in March last year on a social visit pass, which was later extended to June.
The court heard that she was here to visit her friend, a Singaporean man, but moved out of his home at the end of May after a quarrel and ended up renting a bed in a room in the apartment.
On the afternoon of June 2, the pair bumped into each other in the balcony. Mahendran, with only a towel around his waist, called out to her. She did not understand him so she told him 'no, no' and went back to her room.
Later, as she was about to open her room door to go out, Mahendran, who was now naked, dragged her into his room, closed the door and raped her.
The woman later fled the room and called the police at about 3pm.
Released on police bail after his arrest, Mahendran hired a prostitute on Aug 13, had sex with her at a Sims Avenue hotel and fell asleep.
The prostitute got a 50-year-old cleaner to help her wake him up, but Mahendran flew into a rage and punched him. The prostitute called the police.
--ST
WTH