SINGAPORE – A 20-year-old student who did not want to get into trouble for breaching her curfew made a police report against her former boyfriend, falsely claiming that he had assaulted her and forced her into a van.

Police later learnt the incident did not happen.

Tharuna Thirunavukkarasu, a student with the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College East, had made up the story because she was out drinking with friends on Jan 19 and did not want to end up in prison.

On Thursday (April 15), Tharuna pleaded guilty to making the false report with the intent of causing the police to investigate her former boyfriend.

At the time of the purported incident, Tharuna was supposed to comply with e-tagging and a curfew after being released under a reformative training (RT) supervision scheme. Details of the curfew were not mentioned in court documents.

She was sentenced in September 2018 to time in an RT centre for offences that were not stated in court documents. Those in RT centres have to follow a strict regimen that includes foot drills as well as counselling.

On Jan 19, she breached her curfew while out drinking with friends in Telok Blangah. Afraid it would mean she could end up incarcerated again, Tharuna decided to cook up a story of why she was out late.

On Jan 20, she told a police officer that between 4.30pm and 5.30pm the previous day, she was near the ITE College East bus stop when her former boyfriend slapped and punched her on different parts of her body.

She claimed he then forced her into a silver van and continued assaulting her, before taking her to a block in Telok Blangah where he took her phone and wallet away.

In the report, she said she saw drugs and controlled weapons in the van.

She claimed that she was made to sit with the man and his friends at the void deck of the block while they drank, and that the man had threatened to cut her e-tag if she tried to leave.

Tharuna claimed she only managed to escape the next morning.

The police managed to track the former boyfriend down the same day the report was made. They learnt he was not with her during the time of the alleged offences, but that he had received video calls from Tharuna where she appeared to be drinking.

The police confronted Tharuna with the evidence on Jan 25, and she admitted to making a false report.

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She also admitted she had falsely accused her ex-boyfriend as she was angry with him over their break-up.

District Judge May Mesenas has called for a report to determine Tharuna’s suitability for reformative training.

She has been remanded pending the report and is expected to be back in court for sentencing on May 6.

For making the false report, she could be jailed for up to two years, or fined, or both.

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