Was a 22-year-old woman raped by a man she met at a nightclub or did she have sex with him willingly?

 
That was the issue before the High Court on Friday when it heard the appeal of convicted rapist Ong Ming Wee, 29, who is fighting his conviction and sentence of seven years' jail and eight strokes of the cane for rape.

He had failed to convince a district court during the trial last year that the woman had consented to having sex hours after they met at Zouk disco in 2009.

On Friday, his lawyer Subhas Anandan argued that the woman, who cannot be named, had consented to sex.

Mr Anandan pointed out that surveillance footage in the club showed that she had danced very closely to his client, who felt that she was trying to seduce him.

The lawyer said the pair had kissed during the taxi ride back to Ong's Toa Payoh flat after leaving the club. Mr Anandan said she was crying rape only because Ong threw her out after they had sex and she was angry at being treated as a tool.

He added that Ong - who helps run a family-owned mini-mart in Toa Payoh North - did not use violence or any weapon against the woman.

But Deputy Public Prosecutor Leong Wing Tuck pointed out that the rape took place more than two hours after the dancing and there was a 'cooling-off period'.

While Ong had not used physical violence or threatened her explicitly, he was in a position of dominance over the woman, who was intoxicated, said the DPP.

The DPP pointed out that Ong had told her that he would allow her to make a phone call to her mother if she had sex with him; this showed he was in control.

The DPP said the woman's mindset was that of a 'trapped animal' and that she was 'overawed into submitting' to Ong.

Justice Quentin Loh reserved judgment.

However, he told both sides to make written submissions on a provision in the Penal Code which states that a person has not committed an offence if he had acted in mistaken belief.