SINGAPORE - A young woman was handed a short detention order (SDO) of five days for making a false rape report.

Tan Gan Hui, 22, admitted to giving false information to the police at the Ang Mo Kio Division headquarters on March 3 this year that she had been raped by a friend.

Two other similar charges were taken into consideration.

The court heard that Tan got to know the friend through Facebook on March 1. She found out that both of them had gone to the same secondary school. They exchanged contact numbers and later met at the void deck of his house. She had consensual sex with him in his room.

At the time, she had a boyfriend and wanted to get back at him for spending time with another girl.

The next day, when questioned by her boyfriend as to what had happened, she lied that the friend had bullied and raped her. Her boyfriend took her to the Sembawang Neighbourhood Police Centre to lodge a report.

Subsequently, she maintained her story at Ang Mo Kio police station.

The case was then referred to the duty officer of the Serious Sexual Crime Branch of the Criminal Investigation Department.

She told the truth during a further interview with the duty officer.

Her lawyer Rajan Supramaniam, assigned by the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, said in mitigation that Tan was genuinely remorseful. He said she committed the acts in a mixture of impulsivity, anger, hurt and a sense of rejection and also because of a failed relationship.

SDO, meant for first-time, low-risk offenders, is less disruptive and stigmatising than a longer prison stay. The maximum period is 14 days.

Tan could have been jailed for up to six months and fined up to $1,000.