SINGAPORE, July 28 — Three prisoners in Singapore who tortured their cellmate for eight days by beating him and making him submit to sexual acts and eat faeces were yesterday each jailed between 16 and 19 years and ordered to be caned.
The “crude and cruel” atrocities they committed in the Changi Prison cell speak for themselves, High Court Judge Tay Yong Kwang said when he sentenced the trio yesterday.
“Their actions were inhumane and repulsive,” he said.
“It is shocking that they allowed themselves to be carried away by their numerical and physical superiority, to the extent of bullying a fellow inmate using such sadistic and degrading acts.”
Prosecutors had earlier described this as one of the worst cases of physical abuse in years, and urged the judge to sentence the three men to at least 20 years’ jail and the maximum 24 strokes of the cane.
But Tay felt the sentences he imposed were punishment enough for what they had done and would “make an indelible mark on their consciousness on the need never to stray into violence or any other crime again”.
Between April 27 and May 4 last year, Iryan Abdul Karim, 21, Muhammad Hamdan Abdul Rahman, 20, and Mohammed Zameen Abdul Manoff, 22, repeatedly punched, kicked and stepped on their cellmate.
To stop the beatings, the 22-year-old victim offered to perform oral sex on them, and did so a few times. Zameen sodomised him once. The trio also made him eat human faeces.
The victim, who cannot be named, suffered multiple rib fractures and was hospitalised for two months.
His attackers conducted their own defence and admitted assaulting him, but insisted that the oral sex was consensual.
Yesterday, Tay noted that the three had claimed trial to fight the charges not because they wanted to make the victim recount his traumatic ordeal, but because they wanted to dispute points of his allegations.
The questions they posed the victim were fair and relevant to what they perceived to be their defence, he said.
The judge noted that they admitted beating up the victim, although they said they were angry with his incessant lies and bragging.
They also admitted making the victim eat faeces, but disputed his account of when it took place and the events that led to it.
As for the oral sex charges, Tay noted that the dispute over this arose from the three men being young and untrained in law; they held a “simplistic but mistaken” understanding of the legal concept of consent.
The only real dispute was over one of the three oral sex charges faced by Iryan — of which he has been acquitted — and the sodomy charge against Zameen — of which he was convicted.
Noting their “sad criminal records”, Tay said the three were intelligent young men whose lives could have turned out a lot differently.
He said they should use their time in jail to do some serious soul-searching and to learn to curb their impulses before something worse happens.
Iryan, the first to be sentenced, looked dejected on hearing his punishment, while Hamdan shook his head. When it was his turn, Hamdan pursed his lips grimly. Zameen was expressionless, but managed to say: “Thank you, Your Honour,” after he was sentenced.
Tay expressed hope that the trio would change for the better after their release, given that they were “determined and energetic young men” who could do whatever they set out to do.
Noting their agile minds and ability to grasp legal concepts and court procedures once these were explained to them, he added: “I certainly do not see them as hopeless failures.”
He left them with these closing words: “Please put these talents of yours to good use. Discipline your minds and study something that interests you. I know you all can study because I have seen the way you memorise the contents of the documents...
“You can overcome.”
The victim, who was in court with his family, told reporters that justice had been served.
“I can forgive them, but I can never forget,” he said. — The Straits Times
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