A 21-year-old man who is being accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl when she was drunk, failed to show up in court on the morning of 22 March.
He was due to enter his plea for the sexual offences.
The High Court has since issued a warrant of arrest for the accused, who is facing one count of attempted rape and two counts of sexual assault by penetration.
He is one of two men being accused of the felonies.
The man (who cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the victim’s identity) was 18 years old when he commited the crimes against the girl on 17 October 2017, at the foot of a HDB building at Pasir Ris.
He is also facing unrelated charges of theft, causing hurt and dishonest misappropriation.
Sexual assault
The victim was playing truth or dare and drinking at a void deck with a group of friends in the early hours of 17 October 2017, and she became increasingly drunk.
The group then left the block and the victim had to be piggybacked because she was too drunk to walk properly.
The two accused the waited for the girl when she stopped to relieve herself at the foot of a block, and the trio then became separated from the rest of the group that they were with earlier.
The girl rested on the ground and the two accused tried to rouse her, but she didn’t respond.
The two then allegedly touched her breasts and sexually violated her.
How he went missing
Before the court hearing at 10am, the accused met his lawyer, Mr Clarence Lun, and his father for breakfast at a building near the court.
At about 9.10am, he said that he had a stomachache and went to the toilet, but he never returned after some time.
The lawyer and the accused’s father searched for him but to no avail; he was also not responding to messages and phone calls.
The accused’s father told the court that he doesn’t believe that his son would jump bail, although the issue of whether the accused’s bail of $30,000 would be forfeited would be determined at a separate hearing.
The missing man’s co accused had earlier pleaded guilty to raping the teenager.