(For proper context – this is about an old marital rape case).

As he should be, if he’s doing his job. I believe he has some leeway to interpret the spirit of the law, though.

What is incomprehensible is when the Chief Justice raises a “this cannot be right!” red flag over a particular law, parliament (especially one that “does not need involve the presence of an opposition”) cannot quickly review and amend the law to make it more just.

As Mr Wong pointed out, the final form of the amendment to the law involving Marital Rape would be far short of what some people would consider fair and just.

so many singaporean lawyer trained.
come on lah lawyers, help singapore improve more lah.
not that you have not.

I believe that one area of the amended statute is not explored enough. I am referring to Section 375(4)(iv).

Rape 375. —
(1) Any man who penetrates the vagina of a woman with his penis —
(a) without her consent; or
(b) with or without her consent, when she is under 14 years of age, shall be guilty of an offence…….

……(4) No man shall be guilty of an offence under subsection (1) against his wife, who is not under 13 years of age, except where at the time of the offence —
(a) his wife was living apart from him ––
(i) under an interim judgment of divorce not made final or a decree nisi for divorce not made absolute;
(ii) under an interim judgment of nullity not made final or a decree nisi for nullity not made absolute;
(iii) under a judgment or decree of judicial separation; or
(iv) under a written separation agreement;
======

So if husband and wife agree to separate and they live apart. Would that not serve immediate protection for wife from husband?

I have actually posted this line of thought in Mr Wang’s site to seek his legal advice.

I have also expressed this thought at my site.

My point is if the above serves immediate protection, would address the time lag for a divorce procedure.

Why is this crucial point not discussed?

I am sad to learn about this aspect of law.

why din someone raised this slightly earlier, like say 20 years ago?

what if there are bad husbands misunderstood marital rape and thus avoided it but now learns from articles like this on the marital rape?

what could be the effect?

many singaporeans either studied law or knew about this or are practising law right?

so ,what happened?

u tell the me.

if a wife was ever raped, how did this affected her mentality, psychology, career and value of herself as a human and educated person working in corporate office climbing ladders to reach the ceiling in asian environment?

what is the effect?

I have a question.

In marital rape, the rapist is someone who had a legal intimate relationship with the victim for a long time, and they had sex for a few hundred times before.

Hence, is marital rape as traumatic as normal rape? If not, why should both be subjected to the same punishments?

I thnk the Penal Code provisions on marital rape are put in place to safeguard the husbands from malicious allegations of rape by the disputing wives over a host of contending issues in the family; otherwise the police, attorney-general and judges are kept very busy every day doing nothing except to investigate and hear how the wives are being screwed by the husbands every time a police report is lodged. Most of the husbands know that once you give in to the wives’ demands, they will relent, play hide and seek with the police not to pursue the matter or report further. The couples may even celebrate the reconcilation and settlement one more round in bed and thumb the nose at the police, attorney-general and judges. A waste of police, attorney-general and court resources. Be realistic in solving the marital problems instead of merely relying on legalistic means. I am sure all these issues hightlighted were taken into considerations before the present Penal Code was amended.

The CJ is not just constrained by the words but also by how he acts….. of course by you know who………….IBA says so !

apologies for the interuption folks, carry on as usual.

Terrence Goh #7 – I do not have any links to psychological research out there (and I really do not know how one would scientifically measure trauma). However, from my personal perspectives, marital rape would be equally if not more traumatic simply because it would be a personal betrayal of trust in a marriage.

In any event, I think the point is moot. There is currently no justice (in the legal framework) for women who get raped by their husbands unless they detect the threat early and “live separately” (if they are even able to) before they get raped. Remember, HDB rules are extremely unforgiving to “single individuals”. If the woman has no relatives or friends who are willing to help, she’s doomed.

Here in Singapore, we are petitioning to protect Singaporean women from marital rape. In Afghanistan, the Parliament passed a law for men to starve their wives if she refused him sex.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8204207.stm

on the other end of the spectrum you have women who cry wolf and get their husbands into trouble.

marital rape is abhorrent, yes! totally agree. shld be condemned by society. but is criminalizing the best way? frankly it’s your word against hers, it’s very hard to prove, even if there are physical signs of abuse. how then, as a neutral party, do you mete out justice fairly, considering that you yourself as a judge don’t know the real truth?

i’m not taking a stance either way, i’m just saying that this deserves further thought, otherwise it would have been criminalized long ago.