{"id":977,"date":"2023-11-29T10:00:22","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T02:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.daslaw.com.sg\/?p=977"},"modified":"2023-11-29T10:02:36","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T02:02:36","slug":"rape-laws-explained-penal-code-consent-and-sentencing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.daslaw.com.sg\/rape-laws-explained-penal-code-consent-and-sentencing\/","title":{"rendered":"Rape Laws Explained: Penal Code, Consent, And Sentencing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rape

<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Penal Code Provision<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rape is defined in Section 375(1) of the Penal Code as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c1. Any man who penetrates the vagina of a woman with his penis<\/em> \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a. Without her consent; or<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

b. With or without her consent, when she is below 14 years of age<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

shall be guilty of an offence.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Any man (A) who penetrates, with A\u2019s penis, the anus or mouth of another person (B) \u2013<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

a. Without B\u2019s consent; or<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

b. With or without B\u2019s consent, when B is below 14 years of age,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

shall be guilty of an offence.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, only males can be convicted of rape under Section 375 of the Penal Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As can be observed, the law does not circumscribe rape to the penile penetration of a woman\u2019s vagina. Non-consensual penile penetration of another person\u2019s anus or mouth is also considered rape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law provides (and rightly so) special protection to persons under 14 years of age (presumably due to their vulnerability) by treating them as incapable of giving valid consent to sexual intercourse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, the recent amendments to the Penal Code abolished the immunity against Marital Rape. In other words, husbands can now be convicted of raping their wives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It ought to be noted that Section 377(3)(a) of the Penal Code defines \u201cpenetration\u201d as \u201ca continuing act from entry to withdrawal\u201d. What this means is that a person is entitled to withdraw consent at any time. So, if a woman consents to sexual intercourse at the start, but subsequently withdraws consent midway through intercourse, it would be rape if the man continues with the intercourse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, Section 375(5) of the Penal Code provides a defence to the accused \u2013 If the accused was operating under a good faith mistake that the victim had consented to sexual intercourse, he would not be guilty of rape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The punishment for rape is found in Section 375(2) of the Penal Code, which prescribes for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a. An imprisonment term which may extend to 20 years<\/u><\/strong>; and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

b. Caning<\/u><\/strong> or Fine

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evidential Difficulties<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Generally speaking, rape offences will often take place in a private area (for instance, in the confines of a person\u2019s bedroom). As such, in trials of rape, much would turn on the testimony of the victim. Ultimately, then, it would boil down to a \u201cher word against his\u201d scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accordingly, legal tests have been developed over the years to combat this issue, particularly relevant for criminal lawyers<\/a>. The Courts are cognisant of the ease in which an allegation of rape can be brought against a person. Equally, the Courts are alive to the frailties of a rape victim, and that, quite often, gaps may appear in a rape victim\u2019s evidence\/testimony. Ultimately, the Courts will carefully scrutinise the facts\/evidence and circumstances of the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Importantly, however, if an accused were to be convicted of rape on the testimony of the victim alone, the victim must be unusually convincing.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sentencing Guideline<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Court of Appeal has developed sentencing guidelines<\/a> for rape. In fashioning an appropriate sentence, the following factors will be taken into account:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a. Whether there was a breach of trust (i.e., the relationship between the offender and the victim).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

b. The young age of the victim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

c. Whether the offender was in the company of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

d. Level of premeditation and planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

e. Whether severe harm or special trauma was inflicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on the forecited factors, the Court will then determine which of the following \u2018bands\u2019 the case falls under:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Band 1 \u2013 10 to 13 years\u2019 imprisonment and 6 strokes of the cane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Band 2 \u2013 13 to 17 years\u2019 imprisonment and 12 stokes of the cane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Band 3 \u2013 17 to 20 years\u2019 imprisonment and 18 strokes of the cane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After placing the offence in one of the abovementioned Bands, the Court will then calibrate the final imprisonment term based on \u201coffender-specific\u201d factors \u2013 these are factors specific to the offender in question, and would normally include the offender\u2019s antecedents (or lack thereof), young age, and genuine remorse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rape Penal Code Provision Rape is defined in Section 375(1) of the Penal Code as follows: \u201c1. Any man who penetrates the vagina of a woman with his penis \u2013 a. Without her consent; or b. With or without her consent, when she is below 14 years of age shall be guilty of an offence. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.daslaw.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.daslaw.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.daslaw.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.daslaw.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.daslaw.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=977"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.daslaw.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":979,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.daslaw.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977\/revisions\/979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.daslaw.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.daslaw.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.daslaw.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}