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Woman lied ex-boyfriend kidnapped her to cover up curfew breach

Close-up Of Handcuffs And Gavel In Courtroom
(PHOTO: Getty Images)

SINGAPORE — Angry at her ex-boyfriend, and wanting to avoid getting recalled to prison for breaking an enforced curfew, a woman lodged a police report claiming that the man had kidnapped her.

Tharuna Thirunavukkarasu, 20, persisted in her lie and only came clean five days later.

She pleaded guilty on Thursday (15 April) to providing false information to a public servant. A reformative training report was called for Tharuna, who will return to court on 6 May for her sentencing.

Tharuna had been sentenced to two years of probation in August 2017 but reoffended during probation and was sentenced to reformative training in September 2018.

She was released on the Release on Supervision (“ROS”) scheme where she was placed on electronic tagging and required to comply with certain conditions, such as complying with a curfew. However, she breached it once and had her ROS extended.

On 20 January this year, she went to a police centre with her reporting officer and other friends. She lodged a report stating that a day earlier she was waiting for a bus when she was physically assaulted by her ex-boyfriend, whom she dated for four months before breaking up last December.

She claimed that the man had slapped and punched her before forcing her into a silver van. He allegedly prevented her from leaving and continued to slap Tharuna, who claimed she saw drugs and other weapons in the van.

According to Tharuna, the man brought her to Block 50 Telok Blangah and took her handphone and wallet. He then allegedly forced her to sit at the void deck of the block with him and his friends while they drank, and threatened to cut off her e-tag if she were to leave.

As part of her lie, Tharuna said she only managed to escape the next morning, at about 7.15am on 20 January this year, when she said she needed to go to school and promised to return thereafter.

She added that the man had been harassing her and threatening to harm her father.

Tharuna was asked by a police officer to confirm whether she was telling the truth twice. The officer reminded her that if she were to provide a false statement to the police, she would be subject to investigations and liable for prosecution. Tharuna insisted that she was telling the truth and reiterated her position in a further statement later that day.

The police commenced investigations into the ex-boyfriend the same day and found that he was not with Tharuna at the time of the alleged offences. However, he had received video calls from her where she appeared to be drinking.

When confronted with evidence on 25 January this year, Tharuna admitted to lodging a false police report as she wanted to avoid getting recalled to prison or extending her ROS for breaching her curfew a second time.

On 19 January, she had been drinking with her friends through the night at Telok Blangah.

“The accused also stated that she had falsely accused her ex-boyfriend because she was angry with him about their break-up,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Shamini Joseph.

For providing false information to a public servant, Tharuna could be jailed up to two years, or fined, or both.

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