A TikToker and former scriptwriter-actor with local YouTube comedy channel Wah!Banana was convicted by the High Court on March 21 for raping a woman he met on the dating app Tinder.
Lev Panfilov, a Singapore permanent resident originally from Russia, was found guilty of two counts of rape, one count of sexual assault by penetration, and one count of outrage of modesty.
The 28-year-old will be sentenced at a later date.
The assault took place on Jan 12, 2021, in his bedroom after he took the woman back to the flat he shared with flatmates to work on her script.
The woman, who was then 30 years old, had worked as an actress and model and was trying to branch out into comedy writing.
She and Panfilov presented different accounts of the incident.
During the trial, which began in May 2023, she was cross-examined for an “unprecedented” 13 days, according to the prosecution’s written submissions.
The two matched on Tinder and later moved their chat to WhatsApp before arranging to meet in person at a restaurant in Robertson Quay.
She testified that his Tinder profile stated that he was either a writer or scriptwriter and that she had hoped to get some advice on scriptwriting from him.
She also said she had gone on YouTube to verify his claim that he worked for the Wah!Banana channel.
At the restaurant, she opened her laptop and started working on her script with him.
She said that after waiters came round to ask if they had any last orders, Panfilov suggested continuing working on the script at his place, and she agreed.
At his flat, he ushered her into his bedroom. They sat on his bed as they talked about comedic characters and watched videos of various comedians.
She said she sat on his bed because the room was otherwise rather cluttered.
The woman said he suddenly leaned in and kissed her on her lips, but she told him “no” and gathered her things to leave.
But he sexually assaulted her and raped her on his bed, she said.
On Jan 16, 2021, still in pain from the assault, she saw a doctor, who advised her to make a police report.
The same day, she went to a neighbourhood police centre and spoke to several police officers but left without lodging a report.
Around midnight on Jan 18, 2021, she finally told her mother what had happened.
Her mother took her to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and a police report was lodged.
Panfilov did not deny that he had sex with the woman but said the encounter was consensual.
He said she had made the first advances – laughing at his jokes, tapping on his leg and stroking his thigh.
After they had sex, he asked for her address and booked a car on the Gojek app for her to get home.
The defence sought to cast doubts on the woman’s account, questioning why she would give her address to her alleged rapist and why she took days before seeing a doctor and reporting the matter.
She explained that she gave him her address because she just wanted to go home and would have given him anything he wanted.
She added that she was initially unsure whether she would be believed because the assault happened behind closed doors and there were no witnesses.
She also did not feel encouraged to make a police report after reading articles about low conviction rates for sexual assault.
On March 21, High Court Judge Pang Khang Chau found the woman to be an unusually convincing witness who gave a detailed and textured account that was internally and externally consistent.
He accepted that she had explanations for the issues raised by the defence.
On the other hand, Justice Pang found that Panfilov was not a credible witness and that his testimony did not help in casting reasonable doubts on the prosecution’s case.
The judge said there were significant inconsistencies between what Panfilov said to police officers, what he said in his video-recorded interviews and what he said in court.
This was a sign of Panfilov’s attempt to distance himself from the events of that evening, the judge said.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
