Man Accused of Raping Woman Claims She Made the First Move

A 49-year-old man who is on trial for raping a woman after she hired him to repair the lights in her flat claimed that they had consensual sex after she made the first move.

- Selina Lum

Taking the stand on July 31, the third day of his trial, Koh Lee Hwa said he ended up having sex with the woman after she pulled him by the arm.

Denying that he had raped her, Koh said the sexual encounter took slightly over 10 minutes, which he compared with the "standard" length of time for sex between him and his wife.

"How could it happen so fast if it was rape?" he said through a Mandarin interpreter.

The prosecution said Koh's testimony was "unbelievable" and contended that the woman did not do anything to suggest that she wanted intimacy from him.

The Singapore permanent resident faces one count of rape, one count of sexual assault by penetration and two counts of outrage of modesty.

The offences were allegedly committed between about 11.40am and 12.40pm on Aug 23, 2021.

The woman, whose age has been redacted from court documents provided to the media, had earlier testified in private.

She had engaged Koh to renovate her flat in 2015. Over the years, she contacted him for various works.

On Aug 21, 2021, she asked him to repair the faulty light in the common toilet and the light switch in the kitchen.