Annadurai Prabakaran bought 2 tablets. He assumed they were sleeping pills (Representational)
Highlights
- Annadurai Prabakaran sentenced for 2 years, 10 months and 3 cane strokes
- Prabakaran had spiked his flatmate's water so he could rape her
- The flatmate sipped, spat out the water, became suspicious of Prabakaran
A 28-year-old Indian national in Singapore has been sentenced by a court there for attempting to spike his flatmate's drink with what he thought were sleeping pills and subsequently rape her, according to news agency Press Trust of India.
Annadurai Prabakaran, who worked in Singapore for more than seven years as a private hire bus driver, had earlier started to think of having sex with his 21-year-old flatmate, who is also an Indian national residing there, court documents suggest.
Prabakaran bought two tablets for two Singapore dollars, of what he assumed to be sleeping pills, to spike his flatmate's water bottle.
"He planned to drug her and have sexual intercourse with her while she was asleep," according to a Channel News Asia report, citing court documents.
He then carried out a small test by using one of the pills to see whether it would become colourless when dissolved.
Three days later, on December 12, he dissolved the other pill in his flatmate's bottle, when she left it unattended.
When her 21-year-old flatmate took a sip of water, she spat it out when she realised the water tasted bitter, according to PTI.
The woman, upon seeing that the water was cloudy, suspected Prabakaran and called a friend of her uncle's. Her friend, also a woman, turned up at the apartment with a male friend.
Prabakaran confessed to spiking his flatmate's water and then pleaded for forgiveness, according to the court documents.
He then grabbed the water bottle from the man, who was holding it at that time, and dropped it on the floor.
The man proceeded to call the police, which sent the bottle to the Health Sciences Authority or HSA for analysis.
A small amount of water had remained in the bottle.
The HSA's toxicology report revealed the spiked water to not have the chemicals inside a sleeping pill, but instead Sildenafil, a drug that is used to treat erectile dysfunction. Sildenafil's side effects include nausea and headaches.
Prabakaran pleaded guilty for obstructing justice, with his lawyer pleading to the court for Prabakaran to be given the lightest sentence possible.
The court sentence handed out to Prabakaran was for two years and 10 months. He was also sentenced to three strokes of the cane.
Singapore permits judicial caning and its caning laws are said to be one of the most severe in the world.
With Inputs From PTI