CRIMINAL CASE NO. 277 OF 2010
COURT: You have been convicted, after trial, of having raped Miss Qin Mei-mei on 7 June last year in a beauty parlour where she was employed. You said in your defence that the sexual intercourse, which you admit took place, was with her consent and in return for money. The jury’s unanimous verdict clearly indicates that your claims to this effect were disbelieved.
It must be that the evidence of Miss Qin was accepted and this is the basis upon which you are to be sentenced. A part of that evidence, it will be remembered, is that you had visited her and used her services as a masseuse approximately a week before this incident. During that visit she said that you had attempted to touch her and she pushed you away, telling you to stop. You ignored her and continued to try to touch her. She described you subsequently as an annoying customer.
It is clear that you were unimpressed with her attitude because when you phoned to make an appointment to see a masseuse on the day of the offence, you were reluctant to have her attend to you. Unfortunately, the receptionist was able to persuade you.
I do not intend to repeat the details of the rape. They have been heard often enough already. It is perfectly apparent from the evidence that Miss Qin was extremely distressed at the time of the offence. You knew from her reaction towards you the previous week that the one thing that was not on offer was sex. You have shown not the slightest bit of remorse for your conduct, the result of which has been to make her relive that dreadful experience and in the full public glare. Once again, her distress was plainly visible for everyone to see in court, including you. Of course, this is not an aggravating feature insofar as sentence is concerned because you are entitled to have the charge proven against you. Conversely, it does deprive you of any reduction in sentence to which you may have been entitled had you spared her this further ordeal.
Although, again, it is not an aggravating feature insofar as sentence is concerned, I feel it, in this matter, appropriate to say that, not being content with having had your way with her against her will, you then went into the witness-box and characterised her as a prostitute and branded her a liar. She was visibly overwrought in court when this allegation was put to her. This is a classic situation of you adding insult to the already considerable injury which you have caused her.
There was an unfortunate comment during the evidence that was attributed to a person who was not called as a witness. It was to the effect that because Miss Qin worked in this type of industry she should expect to be sexually molested from time to time. Well, let me do my best to dispel that misconception. No woman, no matter what her occupation, no matter what her lifestyle, no matter how her morals may be viewed by others, is outside the protection of the law. Every woman enjoys the absolute right to decide for herself with whom and when she wishes to be intimate. No man may assume that his wishes and desires are capable of overriding that right.
In simple terms no, means no. The law recognises that to be the case, even if you do not.
I do take into account, without in any way detracting from the trauma these events would have caused Miss Qin or minimising the offensiveness of your conduct, that this was a rape which falls at the lower end of the scale for the purpose of sentencing. You used only your superior physical strength to subdue her and caused her no real physical injury. No threats were made. No weapons were used. The rape was, even on your version, of a very short duration.
However, there is an aggravating feature. You carried out this rape on Miss Qin without using a condom. That was her evidence, that was what you said occurred and that was the independent DNA evidence. It was clear that this fact added immeasurably to her distress which, unfortunately in this day and age, is entirely understandable. She had specifically related her fears, both of being infected by you with a sexually transmittable disease as well as of falling pregnant.
There is nothing in your personal circumstances which has been made to me which affords any mitigation. In the circumstances you are to serve a period of 7 years’ imprisonment.