Bar owner who raped 17-year-old runaway he was sheltering is sentenced to prison and caning

SINGAPORE: A bar owner took in a 17-year-old girl who had run away from a girls’ home and made her work for him, but later raped her in his apartment.

Raj Kumar Bala, a 42-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced on Monday (July 8) to 13 years and four weeks in prison and faces nine strokes of the cane.

He was found guilty of rape and sexual assault of the victim and pleaded guilty to the third count of harbouring a runaway under the Children and Young Persons Act.

The court heard that the victim was 17 years old in February 2020 when she escaped from the Singapore Girls’ Home.

Through another runaway who worked there, she learned of a job offer at Raj Kumar’s Don Bar & Bistro on Dunlop Street.

The other runaway was also sexually abused by Raj Kumar; however, the charges have been dropped for now.

The victim went to the bar for an interview and met Raj Kumar, who described the duties to her – including serving customers and preparing drinks. He offered her the job and said she could stay at the bar with other runaways.

The victim worked at the bar for a few days, but police received a tip-off about people who had gone into hiding and were working there. In the early hours of February 22, 2020, they searched the place.

The victim fled with another girl to Sim Lim Tower to escape the raid before being caught by Raj Kumar.

He drove them to his apartment complex and told them they could stay there before drinking alcohol with the girls.

He raped the victim when she was heavily intoxicated and also had sexual acts with another girl.

The victim left the apartment and turned herself in to the house in July 2020, but did not tell her social worker that she had been raped until August 2020.

FINDINGS OF THE JUDGE

Judge Mavis Chionh found that the victim had suffered “significant personal harm” and blamed herself for getting into the drunken state that led to her rape.

Her testimony in court, which was confirmed by her ex-boyfriend, shows how the trauma from her past is resurfacing and having a negative impact on her well-being, the judge found.

She said Raj Kumar knew that the victim was young and on the run from the police and that she depended on him for income and accommodation.

However, the judge rejected the prosecution’s request to impose the sentences for rape and sexual abuse consecutively.

Defense attorney Ramesh Tiwary asked for his client’s permission to call his uncle, who had just suffered a heart attack and was admitted to the hospital.

Mr Tiwary said he had advised his client but was told he would have to make two further applications – first, that he be allowed to remain in Cluster B of Changi Prison despite his conviction, and second, that he be released on bail pending an appeal.

Mr. Tiwary explained that Raj Kumar’s uncle, who had been taking care of his wife and children, had now suffered a heart attack.

Raj Kumar wanted a deposit to sell his property and business and leave the money to his wife and children.

Since his wife and one of his sons are foreigners, Raj Kumar wants to apply for permanent residency for them as well and enroll his son in school next year, Mr Tiwary said.

The judge rejected his request for bail, stating that after the verdict was pronounced, the accused would be subject to the power of the prisons and that the court had no power to dictate to the prisons where the accused should serve his sentence.

There are other charges pending against Raj Kumar and he has not yet made a decision about what to do with them.