A ball of red rope similar to the one that was used to bind the victim's hands. (Photo: Getty)

SINGAPORE — Inspired by the film ‘50 Shades of Grey’, a man twice sought a stranger to have sex with his unwitting girlfriend who had been blindfolded and bound in a hotel room.

The mastermind, already put behind bars, returned to the High Court on Tuesday (5 November) to testify against the stranger, Srihari Mahendran, 24, on the first day of the latter’s trial.

Srihari, who was 20 at the time, faces a total of 10 charges - four counts each of rape and outrage of modesty, and one count each of sexual assault by penetration and making an obscene film.

He claimed trial to the charges on Tuesday.

Connected on Tumblr

The victim’s boyfriend cannot be named to protect her identity. He is serving a jail term of 19 years and 11 months, along with 24 strokes of the cane. The sentence had been reduced after an appeal.

In November 2014, the couple got together. The boyfriend was then 26 and working as an auxiliary policeman while the girlfriend was 25.

They had sex regularly and began experimenting with soft-bondage practices after the boyfriend cajoled the girlfriend into it. But she firmly rejected his request to engage in a threesome.

In 2015, the boyfriend connected with Srihari online via Tumblr and they progressed to chatting on the Line app. The boyfriend told Srihari about his sexual fantasy, colloquially known as cuckolding.

According to the prosecution, Srihari was aware at all times that any sexual activity he engaged with the victim would have to be without her knowledge and consent, and that he needed to keep his presence undetected.

First incident

On 29 April 2016, the couple checked into Hotel 81 Bugis. The boyfriend bound the victim’s hands with a ball of red rope and blindfolded her. He then messaged Srihari his room number and ushered him in.

Without the victim’s knowledge or consent, Srihari allegedly thrice penetrated her vagina with his penis, once penetrated her vagina with his fingers, and thrice licked her vagina.

The crimes were captured on video by the boyfriend. At some point during the offences, the boyfriend gestured to Srihari to stop and then proceeded to have sex with the victim.

While the boyfriend was having sex with the girlfriend, Srihari allegedly used’s the boyfriend’s camera to record the activity.

Second incident

About three months later, on 7 August 2016, the couple were at another hotel, M Social Singapore. At about 2.50am, while the girlfriend was sleeping in the nude, the boyfriend bound her hands and blindfolded her before letting Srihari into the the room.

Srihari then allegedly licked the victim’s vagina and penetrated her vagina with his penis without a condom.

At some point, the victim realised that there was a third person in the room. She immediately tried to take off the blindfold and untie herself, and caught eye of Srihari allegedly fleeing.

She also realised that her boyfriend had recorded the sexual assault on his laptop. She made him replay the footage and was shocked at what she saw. She demanded that he call Srihari back to the hotel. She also messaged her friend to tell her about what happened.

The victim then went to the hotel lobby and informed staff about the rape and to lookout for the perpetrator. While alone in the room, the boyfriend deleted the video recording from his laptop.

Srihari was detained by hotel staff at the lobby. Police later arrested Srihari and the victim’s boyfriend.

According to the prosecution, Srihari’s DNA profile matched the semen found in the victim’s vagina. And the victim’s DNA profile was found to match the profile extracted from the inside of Srihari’s underwear and on his penis.

The trial will resume on Wednesday morning behind closed doors with the prosecution replaying the video recording of the incident at Hotel 81 Bugis to show that Srihari was aware that the victim had no knowledge that she was having sex with him.

During the trial, the prosecution will also produce text messages between the boyfriend and Srihari prior to the incident at M Social Singapore to similarly show that Srihari was aware of the boyfriend’s plan to have him rape the victim.

If found guilty, Srihari faces a jail term of up to 20 years, along with a fine and caning, for each charge of rape.

Related stories:

Man who got stranger to rape girlfriend as part of '50 Shades' sexual fantasy jailed, caned

Man with cuckolding fetish slapped with nearly 25 years in jail for letting stranger rape his blindfolded girlfriend