In a rare scene in Singapore Court, a judge criticised the Singapore Police for sloppy investigation and failing to do their due dilligence in taking evidence for a sexual assault case. Senior Judge Kan Ting Chiu acquitted a poor crane operator who was represented by a volunteer lawyer, citing lack of evidence:
“No photographs had been taken by police of the interior of the cabin of the prime mover where the rapes were alleged to have taken place. This would have been important evidence.”
According to the trial, only photos of the exterior were taken, and the police allowed the vehicle where the alleged rape took place to be scrapped.
The victim claimed that she was raped in the back seat of the suspect’s prime mover. However the suspect disputed that the backseat was filled with machine tools and is too filthy and oily. His employer confirmed the affadavit saying that nobody sit on the backseat of the vehicle.
The victim then said on an occasion her younger sister was told by the crane operator to buy meals, and she was allegedly raped. However, the sister said this never happened.
The crane operator was acquitted but there is no mention of pressing charges against the woman, now 23, for making false rape claims.