He targeted her because she was a foreigner unfamiliar with local authorities
Near a busy subway station in Singapore, a man exploited the oldest asymmetry of power — the authority of a uniform, real or imagined — to isolate and harm a woman far from home and unfamiliar with the systems meant to protect her. A Singapore court has now answered that exploitation with 12 years of imprisonment and caning, finding not impulse but predation at the heart of the crime. The case is a reminder that vulnerability, when deliberately sought out, transforms an act of violence into something more calculated — and that the law, at its best, is capable of naming that distinction.
- A Malaysian man posed as a police officer outside a Singapore subway station to lure an Indonesian domestic worker away from her friends, then raped her in nearby bushes on a July evening in 2022.
- The crime was compounded by its architecture: the victim was a foreign worker with no familiarity with local law enforcement, making her precisely the kind of person a predator could exploit through the fiction of official authority.
- After initially contesting the charges when his trial opened in February 2026, the accused reversed course on the second day and pleaded guilty — a shift that spared the victim and her companions from testifying under cross-examination.
- Justice Dedar Singh Gill rejected the defense's framing of the assault as unpremeditated, finding instead a deliberate sequence — disguise, deception, isolation — that pointed unmistakably to predatory intent.
- The sentence of 12 years in prison and 12 strokes of the cane fell within the range prosecutors sought, reflecting the court's view that calculated exploitation of a vulnerable foreigner warranted the full weight of aggravated consideration.
On a July evening in 2022, a 35-year-old Indonesian domestic worker was standing with friends outside a Singapore subway station when a man approached her and said he was a police officer. She believed him. He led her into nearby bushes and raped her. The man, Sharveen Chetty, was 48 years old and Malaysian.
Chetty was charged with two counts of rape and with impersonating a police officer. When his trial began in early February 2026, he initially contested the charges — then, on the second day, pleaded guilty to one count of rape. The remaining charges were taken into account during sentencing without being separately tried.
Justice Dedar Singh Gill sentenced him to 12 years in prison and 12 strokes of the cane. The judge found the crime seriously aggravated: Chetty had deliberately targeted a foreign worker he knew would be unfamiliar with Singapore's police and legal system, constructed a false identity as an authority figure, and methodically separated the woman from her companions before leading her to an isolated location. The defense's claim that the assault was unplanned was rejected outright.
The prosecution, which had sought between 11 and 13 years alongside the caning, emphasized the calculated layers of the crime — the disguise, the deception, the deliberate isolation. Medical and forensic evidence was presented by doctors and scientists who examined the victim the following day.
One element offered the victim a measure of relief: because Chetty pleaded guilty before she and her friends were called to testify, they were spared the ordeal of cross-examination in open court. The judge acknowledged this as a meaningful consideration. It was a small but real mercy in a case defined by the deliberate exploitation of someone far from home.
In July 2022, near the Little India subway station in Singapore, a 48-year-old Malaysian man named Sharveen Chetty approached a 35-year-old Indonesian domestic worker who was standing with friends outside Exit F. He told her he was a police officer. She believed him and went with him into the bushes nearby, where he raped her. It was around 8 in the evening.
Chetty was arrested and charged with two counts of rape and impersonating a police officer. He initially fought the charges when his trial began in early February 2026, but on the second day, he changed course and pleaded guilty to one count of rape. The other charges—a second rape allegation and the impersonation count—were considered by the judge during sentencing but not separately tried.
On Wednesday, Justice Dedar Singh Gill sentenced him to 12 years in prison and 12 strokes of the cane. The judge found the crime particularly serious because Chetty had deliberately targeted someone he knew would be vulnerable: a foreign worker unfamiliar with Singapore's police and legal system. He had made deliberate efforts to disguise himself as an authority figure. The judge also rejected the defense's claim that the assault was unplanned, finding instead that Chetty had acted with predatory intent—singling out the victim, separating her from her companions, and leading her to an isolated spot.
The prosecution had asked for between 11 and 13 years in prison and 12 strokes of the cane, emphasizing the calculated nature of what Chetty had done: the disguise, the deception, the deliberate isolation of his victim from her friends. Medical evidence came from a doctor at Women's and Children's Hospital who examined the victim the day after the assault. Forensic scientists from the Health Sciences Authority also testified.
One element of the sentencing carried weight in the victim's favor: Chetty pleaded guilty before she and the key witnesses had to testify. The judge noted this spared her and her friends from the ordeal of cross-examination in open court. It was a small mercy in a case marked by calculated exploitation. Chetty admitted during the proceedings that he had become sexually attracted to the woman—a statement that underscored the deliberate nature of his actions rather than diminishing them.
Notable Quotes
The judge rejected the defense's argument that the rape was unpremeditated, finding instead that Chetty had acted with predatory intent.— Justice Dedar Singh Gill
Chetty admitted that he became sexually attracted to the victim.— Court record
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did the judge emphasize that she was a foreigner when deciding the sentence?
Because Chetty chose her precisely for that reason. He knew she wouldn't know who to trust, what the real police looked like, how the system worked. That's not coincidence—that's predation.
Did the guilty plea actually help her, or is that just what courts say?
It meant she didn't have to sit in a witness box and be questioned about the details of what happened to her. That's real. The alternative is reliving it under pressure.
The judge rejected the idea that this was unplanned. What made it seem premeditated?
Everything. The disguise. The approach. The way he separated her from her friends. You don't do all that by accident.
What happens now?
He serves the sentence. Twelve years is substantial. The caning is part of Singapore's sentencing framework for serious crimes.
Does she get anything from this?
Justice, in the formal sense. The man who harmed her is imprisoned. Whether that heals anything is a different question entirely.