Singapore man admits raping 71-year-old woman with dementia

SINGAPORE – A woman’s good deed to help a 71-year-old widow with severe dementia find her way home took a nefarious turn later on when her husband repeatedly molested and raped the elderly woman.

Mohamad Zakir Jaafar was caught after one of the widow’s sons reviewed CCTV camera footage, which captured one of the assaults in her home, where she lived alone.

On July 7, Zakir, who is now 55, pleaded guilty to two charges of rape and a charge of outrage of modesty.

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Six other charges – three for sexual offenses against the victim and three relating to his possession of two knuckle dusters and a plastic replica handgun – will be considered during sentencing.

The sexual assaults were committed over a period of about seven months from June 2022 to January 2023.

The case was adjourned to a later date for further sentencing submissions.

The victim was diagnosed with dementia in February 2019, prosecutors told the High Court.

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In January 2023, she scored 0/10 on a test, which indicated the severity of her dementia.

She was assessed to lack the mental capacity to consent to a sexual relationship. Her inability to make appropriate decisions, poor awareness of safety, and inability to make sound judgments were due to her dementia.

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In June 2022, Zakir’s wife came across the victim, who was lost, and took her home after checking the address on her identity card.

Zakir’s wife told him about the woman, and said she suspected the victim was senile.

About a week later, Zakir came across the woman, who was lost near a mall around their neighborhood, and walked her home.

The victim told him she lived alone, and that her sons would visit her once in a while.

He observed that she was unaware of her surroundings and assessed that she was senile.

Zakir went back to her flat on at least four more occasions, late at night after work.

He would show her pornographic videos before molesting her and forcing her to perform oral sex on him.

Zakir admitted that given her mental condition, he thought he could get away with these acts without the victim telling anyone.

The last incident on Jan 3, 2023, was captured on the CCTV camera installed by the victim’s sons in the living room.

That day, the younger son was reviewing the footage when he came across the footage of Zakir entering the flat and assaulting his mother.

He alerted his brother, who filed a police report. Zakir was arrested that day.

In sentencing arguments, Deputy Public Prosecutor James Chew said this was a highly egregious case of an elderly widow living alone, suffering from severe dementia, being repeatedly exploited.

The victim was a highly vulnerable person who deserved to be protected, and Zakir’s actions were abhorrent, he said.

Defense counsel Pang Khin Wee disagreed with the prosecution’s argument that Zakir chose to visit at night to avoid detection.

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He contended that Zakir simply went there at night after his work shift ended. /dl