Featured image adapted from Google Maps and by MS News.
A man has been sentenced to 15 years’ jail and 14 strokes of the cane for raping a 12-year-old girl near Sixth Avenue MRT station, after being found guilty of the crime earlier this year.
The prosecution noted that the defendant showed no remorse, citing his attempt to stage a hunger strike during proceedings and repeated efforts to blame the victim.
34-year-old Indian national Mookkapillai Pazhanivel first connected with the victim on Telegram on 17 April 2022.
The victim reportedly told him she was 13, and he suggested meeting for sex.
They met at Sixth Avenue MRT station the next day. He led her to a grass patch near Vanda Link, where he raped and sexually assaulted her.
Source: Google Maps, for illustration purposes only
After the assault, Mookkapillai repeatedly messaged her to arrange another encounter.
The victim, who said she “felt very dirty”, told him to stop contacting her.
Despite this, he continued using various pseudonyms and accounts to send sexually explicit messages through September 2022.
The victim eventually told her mother in early October, and a police report was filed.
Police arrested him on 21 March 2023 after arranging a meet-up.
In court, Mookkapillai faced 11 charges. He did not plead guilty, and a trial began in April 2025 for one count of rape and one count of sexual assault by penetration.
On 5 Dec, he was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment and 14 strokes of the cane.
Prosecutors highlighted what they described as “an utter lack of remorse”, pointing to his actions during the trial.
Mookkapillai had declared he would go on a hunger strike until he was assigned a lawyer, even though he had chosen to remain unrepresented.
He persisted with the strike despite being warned that it could amount to contempt of court, which prosecutors said was an attempt to obstruct proceedings.
The defendant later claimed he had a habit of not eating since childhood, and that stress had caused him to avoid food.
Mookkapillai also attempted to shift blame onto the victim, making disparaging remarks about her and alleging that he had not raped her.
Prosecutors said he made unfounded claims about an odour from her private parts and tried to use the tone of her text messages to portray her as a liar.
He further accused police officers of being overly forceful during his arrest, claiming he “could have died” had they subdued him for 10 more seconds.
High Court Judge Aidan Xu rejected his claims, stating that the defendant had taken advantage of a young girl to satisfy himself.
A separate trial will be held for the remaining nine charges against him.
Also read: S’pore man who raped drunk woman claims he can’t pay compensation despite S$6.6K monthly salary
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Featured image adapted from Google Maps (for illustration purposes only) and by MS News.