Two men in court for rape and sexual assault of a woman in a hotel room

SINGAPORE: Two foreigners, aged 49 and 50, appeared in the High Court on September 2 on charges of raping and sexually assaulting a woman who had previously worked with the younger man.

The sexual offences were allegedly committed between 26 and 27 February 2023 in a room at the Carlton Hotel on Bras Basah Road.

The two men, who appeared in the dock wearing suits, deny the charges against them.

To protect the identity of the victim, the two, who have been friends for twenty years, are not allowed to reveal their names.

The court had previously rejected an attempt by the prosecution to lift the news embargo on their names on the grounds that publishing their names could lead to the identification of the victim because they belonged to a small circle of defendants due to their professional field.

The 49-year-old is accused of sexual harassment through penetration, violation of modesty and obstruction of justice by deleting communication data between himself and the second man.

The 50-year-old faces two charges of rape, two charges of outrage of modesty, one charge of possession of an intimate image of a woman and one charge of obstruction of justice.

Heavily redacted court documents reveal that the woman had previously worked under the 49-year-old and was still in occasional contact with him.

On February 23, 2023, they arranged to meet for dinner while they were both in Singapore.

Both men stayed on different floors at the Carlton Hotel.

The woman arrived in Singapore on February 24. She had reserved a table at the restaurant for two people for February 26 at 6 p.m.

On the afternoon of February 26, the two men began drinking gin and tonic in the older man's room. Prosecutors alleged they also took Viagra.

The 50-year-old then invited a woman he knew, hereinafter referred to as Mrs. J., to his room to have a drink with him and his friend.

Prosecutors claimed that the two men suggested that they wanted to have a “threesome” with the 52-year-old Canadian, but she rejected the suggestion and left around 6 p.m.

In the meantime, the younger man and the alleged victim had agreed to meet at the hotel before going to the restaurant. They met in the hotel lobby and then went up to his friend's room.

The woman did not know the 50-year-old, but recognized him because she had read his books before.

The woman sat on the edge of the bed and drank two half glasses of gin and mineral water. She also drank some white wine.