Siti Junaidah Azahar, a 22-year-old woman, pleaded guilty back in September to one count of providing false information to a public servant, for a false rape accusation against two of her colleagues, with whom she had consensual intercourse.
She was sentenced earlier today (13 December) to 18 months of probation and 60 hours of community service, and has to remain indoors from 10pm to 6am every day, with her mother also being bonded for $5,000 to make sure she behaves, according to The Straits Times.
Background
Siti, along with M, A, and H, worked together at the grocery delivery service RedMart in August 2021. The incident in question occurred on September 6, 2021, when Siti lodged a police report at the Jurong West Neighbourhood Police Centre, alleging that she had been raped.
She claimed that the alleged incident took place in a hotel on Lavender Street, in a room with only one single bed. However, as investigations would later reveal, her statement was far from the truth.
The night of the alleged incident
According to Deputy Public Prosecutor Melissa Heng, Siti and her colleagues, along with another friend named Z, were in the hotel room on September 4, 2021, at around 11 pm, where they consumed alcohol, with Siti admitting to drinking around four cups of whisky. As a result, she felt tipsy and eventually dozed off on the bed.
Siti’s account of the night was that when she woke up, A, aged 20, was raping her, despite her trying to fight back. She further claimed that when she woke up again, H, aged 21, attempted to pull down her shorts but she managed to push him away.
This led to her departure from the hotel room at about 1am on September 6, when her aunt helped her to book a Grab ride.
Admitted to lying about the rape because no money to take Grab
Following her police report, the authorities initiated an investigation into the matter. The hotel room was meticulously processed, and various items, including leftover alcohol, mixer drinks, and linen, were seized as evidence. Moreover, A was arrested and interviewed, while H was also questioned by the police.
The turning point in the case came on September 8, 2021, during a subsequent interview with Siti. She confessed that her intercourse with A and H were consensual and she further admitted that she had fabricated the rape accusation in her police statements and report.
Siti’s admission raised questions about the motivations behind her false accusation. She explained that her deception was driven by her desire to leave the hotel room but she didn’t have money.
Faced with the prospect of being stranded, she resorted to sending a text message to her cousin, falsely claiming she was raped, in the hope that her aunt would agree to book her a Grab ride home.