Singapore Polytechnic said today it is investigating one of its students after sexual assault accusations were laid against him via social media.
The school said it was aware of a Sunday tweet in which a former graduate accused the student of raping her last year. The school said it had reached out to her.
“On 7 June 2020, Singapore Polytechnic (SP) came to know of some posts on social media on an alleged case of sexual assault which occurred in 2019 involving an SP student and an alumna. We have reached out to the victim to offer her our support, as well as counselling,” the statement to Coconuts Singapore read.
It noted that the same student was suspended for six months in 2019, but said it was for an unrelated incident.
Messages sent to the student’s accuser went unanswered Wednesday. Coconuts Singapore does not publish names of possible victims of sexual violence. To protect her identity, we are therefore withholding the name of the accused student.
The institution said it would take action but did not mention police involvement.
“SP does not condone and will not tolerate any form of sexual misconduct,” it said. “We are investigating the matter and will not hesitate to mete out the necessary disciplinary action against any student found guilty of the offence.”
The school refuted claims online that the student had been given a six-month suspension last year for the alleged assault.
“It was communicated wrongly in some of the social media posts that the SP student was given a six months suspension for this alleged case of sexual assault. We would like to clarify that this is incorrect. The SP student in question has completed a six months suspension for a separate incident which occurred in 2019,” it said without disclosing the infraction.
In her Sunday tweet, the man’s accuser said the student was an ex-boyfriend and that he attacked her at a chalet in March 2019.
“I want to finally voice out about what happened to me in March 2019. I was sexually assaulted by my ex,” her tweet began.
She said he was unlikely to understand what he had done.
“I am sure up till now, he doesn’t know what he did then was rape,” she wrote. “I never consented.”
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