32-year-old Chinese national Li Jiajie pleaded guilty in the High Court to a charge of aggravated rape and was sentenced on 21 October to 12 years imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane, according to The Straits Times.
He had used a fake online profile to dupe a woman into meeting him by offering her $2,500 to sleep with him, and he then assaulted and raped the woman.
What happened?
Li worked as a hotel room attendant at the time and he got acquainted with the victim on a dating app in May 2018 where he used a fake name with a fake photo of another man that he found online.
He told her that he was an engineer and offered her $2,000 to sleep with him, which she rejected but continued chatting with him.
Li said that he liked her and increased his offer to $2,500, when he only had $23 in his bank account.
On 8 June 2019, Li told her that he would respect her decision if she changed her mind after meeting up, when she asked.
They then met later that night at Kallang MRT and she told him that he looked very different from his profile picture.
They then went to his home and the victim asked him if he lived alone, and Li told her that he didn’t have the money to rent the whole flat.
The woman then asked him for the money but he didn’t respond, and she then booked a Grab ride to go home – but Li then refused to let her leave.
The woman then threatened to call the police and Li retorted that he would tell them that she was a prostitute.
Li then pinned the woman down on the bed, strangling and punching her and forcing her to take off her clothes as she tried to push him away, but to no avail.
She then tried to talk him into releasing her, but Li told her that he can only leave after he was done.
After raping the woman, she left his place in a daze and flagged down a taxi, and she then decided to make a police report while on her way home.
Li was also messaging her at the same time, asking her to share her location with him, and he was then later arrested at his workplace.