Day 1 of Pritam Singh trial: Prosecution unveils case and witness list, Raeesah Khan on stand

The keynote speech he gave to parliament on August 3, 2021 did not always contain his fake rape victim anecdote, but he added it a few days earlier.

She sent Singh a draft of her speech, and he circled part of the anecdote, writing “substance” before handing it back, but did not speak to her.

Not realizing “the seriousness of what she wrote”, Ms Khan made no changes. He delivered the speech on August 3, 2021, and it sparked a series of probes, discussions and clarifications.

Ms Khan testified about how “terrified” she felt that her lie would be exposed, mainly because she would have to share her own account of sexual assault, which she had kept private to herself, her husband and a therapist

He continued his lie, telling Singh the truth only through a phone call on August 7, 2021, when he asked him point-blank about it.

After Singh roped her into the August 8, 2021 meeting with Ms Lim and Mr Faisal Manap, Ms Khan said she was under the impression that she was to be taken to the grave.

That was because Singh said “this would probably be something we would have to take to the grave”, and because Ms Lim said the issue would probably not come up again.

On 3 October 2021, a day before another parliamentary session, Singh visited Ms Khan’s home with his wife.

According to Ms Khan, Singh said “something like: I don’t think the subject will come out, but if it does, I won’t be judged for continuing the narrative”.

Ms Khan thought Singh would not judge her if she continued to lie.

She said she was prepared to lie again on October 4, 2021, because she was “terrified of what would happen” if she told the truth and because “it seemed Pritam was supporting her to keep lying.”

When parliament met on October 4, 2021, Law Minister K Shanmugam spoke about Ms Khan’s anecdote and asked her for more details about when it happened, which police station she was at and which police officers were involved.

This was for the purpose of investigating the issue.

In text messages shown in court, Ms Khan sent a message to Singh while he was in the chambers of Parliament, asking: “What should I do, Pritam”.

She stated that she was “really terrified” and didn’t know what to do.

Singh did not immediately respond. When then Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin asked her to respond to Mr Shanmugam, Ms Khan stood by her lie and said she did not want to share more details, citing confidentiality.

Singh later replied to Ms Khan to say they would speak after the parliament session and asked her to keep him and Ms Lim informed.

Ms. Khan stated that Ms. Lim later told her about standing orders and what the procedures will be like with a COP, which Ms Khan took to mean Ms Lim was explaining what could happen if the issue was pressed.

Ms Khan later sent messages to a group chat she held with then WP cadres Ms Loh and Mr. Nathan, saying, “I’m trying not to panic, but I’m so scared.”

Fearing that someone was reading their messages, the group agreed to delete some messages from the chat. Ms Khan said she thought the deleted messages were about the fact that she had lied.

Ms Khan then prepared a draft statement responding to Mr Shanmugam, in which she wrote of being disappointed that the government had pushed her to break “all forms of confidentiality and consent” and focused more on making- grilled

However, Ms Loh told her this “would be a terrible thing to say” and Ms Khan ultimately did not make this statement in parliament.

Ms Khan said that late on the night of 4 October 2021, towards the end of that day’s parliamentary session, she asked if she should clarify herself in a meeting with Singh and Ms Lim .

“I said, should I tell the truth? And Pritam’s response was, ‘It’s too late for that,'” she testified.

Ms Khan was also asked why she did not mention that Singh and other WP leaders had known about her lie earlier, when she addressed parliament on November 1, 2021.

“I wanted to protect them. I didn’t want to implicate anyone else in the mistake I made and I wanted to take full responsibility for what happened,” he said.