Married driver raped drunk passenger, bragged he was ‘lucky’
A private-hire driver took advantage of a drunk passenger after she fell asleep in his car by pulling her skirt up and recording images of her body, which he then sent to his friends.
Mohammad Noorandy Wahid then raped the 31-year-old woman at a deserted spot, and bragged to one of the friends he was “lucky” she had been unconscious.
On May 17, the 39-year-old, who is married, was sentenced to 11 years’ jail and nine strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to one charge of rape and one charge of distributing voyeuristic images.
The offences were committed in the early hours of Feb 27, 2020. Another seven charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
At the time, Noorandy was a delivery driver who rented a Mercedes-Benz S300L to work as private-hire driver with ride-hailing company Ryde at night.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Pei Wei told the High Court that Noorandy occasionally drove the woman and her friends from club to club.
He became acquainted with her in December 2019 after he approached her and her friends who were waiting outside a club for a taxi.
On the night of Feb 26, 2020, the woman went club-hopping with her friend. They first went to a club at Pan Pacific Hotel, followed by a club at Marina Bay Sands (MBS).
At about 2.50am on Feb 27, the woman, who had drunk a lot of alcohol, left MBS to head for another club.
At the driveway, she saw Noorandy waiting in his car for potential passengers, and asked him to drive her and her friend to Pan Pacific Hotel. During the journey, he stopped the car twice so she could vomit.
His car pulled into the hotel driveway close to 3am, but the victim could not find her mobile phone, even after her friend called her number.
She then asked him to take her back to MBS to look for the phone, told her friend that she would meet her at the club later, and got into the front passenger seat of the car.
When they returned to MBS, he walked around to look for the victim’s phone while she waited in the car.
The phone was eventually found in her bag. But she felt very sleepy at this point and asked Noorandy to take her home.
Instead of driving towards her home, he drove towards the Carros Centre in Kranji, which he knew would be deserted at that hour.
At about 3.50am, he pulled up her skirt and recorded five images of her buttocks and crotch. He then sent the images to two friends over WhatsApp.
He also sent an image of the woman’s side profile, with the caption “Bonus”.
Noorandy then drove to Kranji Close and parked at the side of the road. He got out of the car, walked over to the passenger seat and forced himself on the woman, who was too weak to push him away.
He stopped the rape after he thought he saw a police car, and drove off at about 4.05am to take her home.
At about 4.20am, one of his friends responded to the images that had been sent to him, telling Noorandy to “pass” the victim to him if she was Caucasian.
About 10 minutes later, Noorandy replied via an audio note, telling his friend that he was late and to reply earlier the next time.
He also told his friend that he had sex with the woman and said he was “lucky” the woman was unconscious.
On Feb 28, 2020, the woman lodged a police report that she had been raped.
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