A trial began Monday for 33-year-old Indian national Murugan Karuppiah, charged with sexually assaulting and raping a 12-year-old girl near Sixth Avenue MRT station in 2022.
Karuppiah faces one count of sexual assault and one count of rape for incidents allegedly occurring on April 18, 2022, on a grass patch near Vanda Road. He has pleaded not guilty as the High Court trial opened.
Prosecutors stated that Karuppiah contacted the victim through Telegram. Despite the girl telling him she was 13, he invited her to meet and expressed intentions to perform indecent acts.
They met at Sixth Avenue MRT station’s Exit B at 8:00 PM on April 18, 2022. He then took her to a location where the alleged sexual assault and rape occurred.
After the incident, Karuppiah sent multiple messages requesting to meet again, but the victim did not respond. She later received obscene messages from unknown accounts requesting meetings, which she believed came from Karuppiah’s other accounts. She blocked these accounts.
On September 29, 2022, the victim received another message from an unknown person claiming they would stop harassing her if she met them “one last time.” On October 5, this person threatened to harass her friends if she didn’t reply.
The victim told her mother about the harassment on October 8 and filed a police report the next day.
The mother testified that she initially took her daughter to the police station because of harassment, unaware of the sexual assault. She explained that on the day of the incident, they had gone to a beauty salon together. The daughter wanted to go shopping while her mother finished her treatment, and later said she would return home by herself.
When the daughter returned home that night, the mother noticed she looked pale. When asked what was wrong, the daughter said nothing and went to her room.
On January 20, 2023, the mother asked if her daughter was still being harassed. The daughter showed her phone, revealing that the harasser had sent sex videos and wanted to meet her.
The mother informed investigators and returned to the police station with her daughter. Police arranged a meeting with the harasser on March 21, 2023, at Sixth Avenue MRT station. Officers arrested the accused at the meeting point.
An investigator testified that Karuppiah had two condoms when arrested, and police seized his phone.
The trial continues.
