A 28-year-old truck driver was sentenced to 16 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane on Monday (Jul 10) for sexually assaulting and raping a teenager barely an hour after they were introduced. Muhammad Iskandar Ismail pleaded guilty on Monday to two counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of aggravated rape. One count of outraging the modesty of the 19-year-old victim was taken into consideration. On Aug 16, 2016, the teenager was on her way home from McDonald's when she bumped into a male friend at the void deck of her block of flats, the High Court heard. The man introduced her to Iskandar, and they exchanged phone numbers. When she got home minutes later, the girl received a text message from Iskandar, suggesting the two "hang out". She agreed, and brought her McDonald's meal to Iskandar's flat, which happened to be close by. After she finished eating, Iskandar asked the teenager to tell him about herself. She told him she was a single mother, and that her one-year-old son suffered from heart problems. Iskandar told her he "pitied" her, and put an arm around her shoulder. He started to try and move closer to her, but she told him not to touch her. Iskandar apologized but did not move away. He roughly pulled her towards him and asked her to have sex with him, deputy public prosecutor Chew Xin Ying told the court. Though the girl said no, Iskandar pushed her onto the floor and sat on her chest. He covered her mouth with one hand, and slapped and strangled her with the other. He then undressed himself and forced her to perform a sexual act on him. Then Iskandar pulled her clothes off and assaulted her, warned her to cooperate and threatened to strangle her again. The girl lay on the floor in tears, not daring to make a sound, even when Iskandar raped her. When he was done, Iskandar apologized to the girl and begged her not to report him to the police. She promised not to, and Iskandar let her go. Outside the flat, she bumped into the male friend who had introduced her to Iskandar two hours earlier. When she told him Iskandar had raped her, he too begged her not to go to the police, the court heard. The teenager rushed to the house of her ex-boyfriend, her son's father, and told him what had happened. He took her to the police. Later that day, as he was leaving the house for work, Iskandar received a call from Assistant Superintendent of Police Razali Razak, asking to meet at the flat. Suspecting that the girl had made a police report, Iskandar decided to flee to his mother's home in Johor Baru. He was arrested at Woodlands Checkpoint that evening. "EXPRESSED REMORSE FROM THE OUTSET": PROSECUTION Deputy public prosecutor Sellakumaran Sellamuthoo urged the court to sentence Iskandar to 16 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane. He said that while the offences are aggravated because Iskandar had used force on and threatened the victim, Iskandar had also "expressed remorse from the outset". In a two-page letter to Justice Chan Seng Onn, Iskandar, who was not represented, pleaded with the judge to be "kind and compassionate" and for a lenient sentence. "I have been able to reflect on my mistakes ... I realize how it has not only affected me but also my lovely family members," Iskandar wrote. "I hope that my sentence will be lenient not only for me but for my family as whatever the sentence is, my family also will have to put up the struggle during my absence." Sentencing Iskandar to 16 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane, Justice Chan told him to use the time behind bars to "reflect on what you have done and resolve to change yourself". The judge encouraged Iskandar to "learn some skills in prison so that you can come out and be more useful to society". For each of the three charges he pleaded guilty to, Iskandar could have been sentenced to up to 20 years' jail and at least 12 strokes of the cane.
