Jail, caning for man who raped masseuse in Geylang

A construction worker who did not have money to pay for a massage refused to leave a Geylang parlour when told to do so, and turned violent to get the masseuse to submit to him.

He straddled the woman across her chest, choked her with both his hands and slapped her multiple times before he forced her to perform a sex act on him.

On Nov 11, Prodhan Sajib, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi national, was sentenced to 10 years in jail and six strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to raping the 32-year-old victim, a Chinese national.

Two other charges – a second count of rape and a count of criminal trespass – were taken into consideration in sentencing.

The offences took place on the morning of May 18, 2022.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Maximilian Chew told the High Court that at about 7.35am that day, Sajib arrived for work at a construction site in Geylang but left shortly after to buy some groceries.

At about 7.55am, the victim was sleeping in the massage parlour when she heard the doorbell. She saw Sajib standing outside and opened the glass door to let him in.

After Sajib indicated that he wanted a massage, the masseuse told him how much it would cost, but he did not have enough cash in his wallet to pay for it.

He then took out his bank card and gestured to the victim to swipe the card on the payment machine.

However, he refused to hand over his card, so the woman told him to leave. But Sajib refused to do so and locked the glass door instead.

He lifted the victim onto his shoulder and threw her on the massage bed located farthest away from the door, as she struggled and shouted for help.

He then straddled her and tried to strangle her, before pressing a towel over her face to stop her from shouting.

After a while, he removed the towel and placed his finger to his lips to gesture to the victim to keep quiet. He also made a swiping gesture across his neck, and made a stabbing motion.

DPP Chew said the victim became quiet as, she was fearful that the man would kill her if she kept shouting.

While Sajib was undressing the victim, she pushed him away and made a run for it, but he caught up with her.

He pinned her to the floor, choked her and repeatedly slapped her, before he forced her to perform oral sex on him.

After the rape, the victim tried to run out of the shop, but Sajib pulled her back in.

She held on to the leg of one of the massage beds and grabbed her mobile phone, which was on the bed. When Sajib saw this, he tussled with her for the phone.

The woman eventually broke free and ran out of the shop with her phone.

As she stood outside trying to call for help, Sajib came out of the shop and continued trying to snatch the phone from her.

After failing to grab her phone, Sajib opened the door and gestured to the victim to return to the shop.

She hurried back into the shop and closed the door, and Sajib left the scene.

The victim made a police report in the early hours of May 19, 2022.

Later that day, the police arrested Sajib at his workplace, after identifying him from surveillance video footage.

While he was remanded in custody, Sajib told a psychiatrist that he had been taking sex enhancement medication for about two months prior to the incident.

DPP April Phang sought 10 to 11 years’ jail and eight strokes of the cane, highlighting that the use of excessive violence to commit the rape was an aggravating factor.