Maid Rape

I wholeheartedly agree with Justice Sinnathuray's sentence meted out to
the convicted rapist in "Sex offences against maids "of concern", by Lim
Li Hsien, May 14, 1997, ST. 

I am increasingly concerned at the increased number of maid rapes in
Singapore. It is precisely this sort of rougish conduct that will
sensationalized by the irresponsible foreign media and add to the
prevailing foreign grassroot sentiment against Singapore and
Singaporeans. Our Courts should take stern action against Singaporeans
who abuse their duty of trust and responsibility as employers of these
foreign workers, be they domestic maids or construction workers,  who
have had little choice but come to our shores to share a part of the
Singapore dream.

Rape is a crime of violence and the wrath of the law must not be spared
on those who not only victimize females but also females that are more
vulnerable due to their economic standing. But I would only add one word
of caution in that like any rape cases, there needs to be continued
vigilance of our police to weed out spurious accusations of rape by
maids who are motivated by revenge, spite or malice. There needs to be a
balance against protecting the reputation of the  accused and acquitted
as well as the victim of the crime.

What is quite unnerving is that in the event of an acquittal, the
accused, his family and friends have suffered the travail of having the
accused's face plastered all over the Singapore media already. No matter
the innocent verdict that is returned by the Judge, there will be the
stigma of being an ex-accused and he will encounter hushed voices behind
him and quizzical second glances.

As much as there should be rights for the victims, there should also be
rights for those who are acquitted. Perhaps, the identity of the accused
should also be kept confidential or only his name without any picture be
published by the media until a conviction is returned by the judge.
Justice is blind but the public is not.