The Bangladeshi construction worker, Pramanik Liton, 24, was found guilty of two counts of aggravated rape, one count of sexual assault by penetration and one count of abduction for illicit intercourse on May 19, 2017.
On Feb 8, 2015, between 1.45 pm and 3.35 pm, Pramanik Liton abducted the 39-year-old PRC along a trail at the park at knife-point. He then raped her and forced her to perform oral sex on him.
He was arrested at his worksite two days after the incident after Gurkha trackers located the crime scene and found a jackknife with his thumbprint in the forest.
His semen was also found on the PRC woman’s panties, swabs taken from her body and tissue paper recovered from the crime scene, which was 14m off the trail.
In an unusual twist on Thursday 18 May, 2017, Pramanik Liton told the court that he did not have sex with the victim, who cannot be named due to a gag order, because she had died from fear. This despite the fact that the victim is alive and had testified two days earlier that Pramanik Liton had attacked her. He was in court when she took the stand.
“If she died, this would be the world’s first supernatural trial. But I did not see anything supernatural, I only saw a woman who was in distress.” said Judge Choo
In her submissions, DPP Stella Tan said the victim was an “unusually convincing witness”, having given a detailed account of the alleged incident.
In contrast, Liton’s evidence had “vacillated from admission to the offence… to claiming (during trial) that he was not at the scene”.
Pramanik Liton also face another two charges one for theft and one for causing hurt, On Febraury 9, 2015, he allegedly returned to MacRitchie Reservoir the next evening between 9.30pm and 9.55pm, he allegedly stole a woman’s sling bag and bit the finger of her boyfriend.
But, two charges related to this incident have been stood down for now.
Delivering his verdict at the end of the three-day trial, Justice Choo Han Teck said that Pramanik Liton’s evidence was “bizarre and incomprehensible” and his outright denial was an “act of desperation”.
Pramanik Liton, will be sentenced to 17 years’ jail and 24 strokes of the cane.
For aggravated rape, Pramanik Liton, could have been sentenced to between eight and 20 years’ jail and at least 12 strokes of the cane.
