SINGAPORE: The court rejected the appeal of a man sentenced to 29 years in jail and 24 strokes of the cane for inviting men to rape his wife, while he observed.
The 42-year-old, a central figure in a disturbing case involving men with wife-sharing fantasies, had his plea for a lighter sentence dismissed Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, the Straits Times reported on Wednesday.
In May 2023, the father of four confessed in the High Court to inviting five men to his home between 2010 and 2018 to rape his wife.
Administering sedatives to her, he witnessed the assaults in their bedroom, often without protection, while their children slept in another room.
The man also raped the wives of two of the men involved.
On Jan 17, the man, representing himself, informed the Court of Appeal that his appeal stemmed from his deep affection for his wife, children, and elderly parents, expressing his inability to abandon them to "fend for themselves."
While acknowledging his wrongdoing, he pleaded for leniency, stating, "The imposed sentence has already suffocated the life out of me," and added, "My soul has perished, leaving behind only an empty shell."
He additionally presented letters from his mother and sister appealing for leniency.
His mother, in her letter, portrayed him as a dutiful son who did not burden his parents, despite facing financial constraints for his family, the Straits Times reported.
She recounted an instance where she observed him ordering only vegetables and steamed eggs at a coffee shop.
However, the three-judge apex court expressed disagreement, stating that they did not believe the sentence was unjust.
Chief Justice Menon remarked, "If anything, I think the judge was lenient."
"I know you feel shattered, you're self-blaming... You have to confront what you did, and you have to find the answer to that, but it's not in trying to suggest the court has to be lenient to you," he told the man.
The Chief Justice noted the court's commitment to adhering to precedents and maintaining sentencing principles.
The man was part of a group of seven brought to court in an extraordinary case involving husbands conspiring with other men to drug and rape their respective partners.
The crimes surfaced when the man's wife uncovered explicit images of herself on his mobile phone on Jan 1, 2020, revealing that her husband and another man had been involved in "exchanging wives."
Most of the men established connections through the SammyBoy online forum and other platforms dedicated to discussions on partner swapping.
Engaging in private and group chats, they shared fantasies of wife-sharing, exchanging details of their intimate lives, and trading explicit images or videos of their spouses or partners.
Four out of the five men admitted guilt for their respective charges and received sentences ranging from 13½ to 22 years in prison, with three of them additionally facing 20 strokes of the cane each.
The fifth man, found guilty after a trial in November 2023, is awaiting sentencing.
One of these five men invited a seventh man to assault his wife, but it was an unsuccessful attempt.
This seventh man received a three-year jail term.