SINGAPORE: The lawyer for a 33-year-old man accused of raping his biological mother at their home told the High Court yesterday in his ongoing trial that the accusations were a "complete collusion" to get his client "out of the house".
Senior Counsel Harry Elias revealed the defence's case while cross-examining the accused's stepfather, who testified that the accused drank alcohol, smoked cannabis and created disturbances at home.
The lawyer suggested that the 54-year-old stepfather and the accused's 56-year-old mother went to the police to accuse him of rape in order to "get rid of him".
Speaking in an agitated tone, the stepfather firmly denied the suggestion, pointing out that he could have called the police to arrest the accused for taking drugs.
"We did not lie, this is what happened. We are not using this as a reason to make him leave the house. This is a shameful act," he said through a Tamil interpreter.
He said that the accused became a "nuisance" a few months before the alleged rape. He said he expressed his annoyance to his wife as he was not on talking terms with the accused.
The accused faces one count each of rape, molestation and aggravated molestation. He is contesting all the charges.
The second of three sons, he worked as a safety coordinator and lived with his mother and stepfather in the one-bedroom flat.
Known to his family as "Boy", he is accused of sexually attacking his mother after he returned home at about 2.30am on Oct 4, 2013.
Tuesday, his stepfather, two brothers and sister-in-law took the stand to give their accounts of what happened when they met the alleged victim hours after the alleged attack.
A six-minute recording in the Malay language of a conversation between the woman and the accused was played when each brother took the stand, to confirm it was the same one she had played for them after the incident.
The woman had made the recording using two mobile phones while she was on her way to her eldest son's home after fleeing her flat at about 6am.
The transcript and translation of the conversation are expected to be tendered in court today.
On Tuesday, the court heard the woman was crying when she arrived at her eldest son's flat at about 7am. She was shaking as she told her daughter-in-law in simple English what Boy had done to her.
Her husband, alerted by the daughter-in-law, arrived at the flat soon after. They then went down to a nearby playground to wait for the two sons, aged 36 and 32.
At the playground, she cried as she played the audio recording and said that she wanted to make a police report. However, she did not go into details of what had happened between her and the accused.
The youngest son testified that after the report was made, his mother told him that the accused returned home drunk and climbed on top of her but she could not push him away as he was too heavy.
Her husband said he had gathered that she was raped but it was only one week later, when they were in a "more relaxed mode" that she told him directly.
The two brothers also painted a picture of the accused as a filial son who helped to support the family financially. From time to time, he lent money to them as well as to their stepfather, they said.
The stepfather, a cook, rejected contentions by the defence counsel that he was embarrassed when the accused went to his hawker stall to chase him for repayment. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
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