S’pore-based TikToker Lev Panfilov cleared of raping woman due to inconsistencies in her testimony

Former Wah!Banana scriptwriter-actor and TikToker Lev Panfilov was on Sept 2 cleared of raping and sexually assaulting a woman he had met on Tinder, after the Court of Appeal said there were material inconsistencies in her testimony.

The 30-year-old Singapore permanent resident was sentenced to 11½ years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane in May 2025, after being convicted by the High Court on two counts of rape, one count of sexual assault by penetration, and one count of outrage of modesty.

The incident took place on Jan 12, 2021, in Panfilov’s bedroom after he invited the woman, an aspiring comedic scriptwriter, back to the condominium unit he shared with flatmates to work on her script.

During his appeal hearing on Aug 13, Panfilov’s lawyer Johannes Hadi argued that the sexual encounter was consensual and that the woman’s claim of a forced and violent sexual encounter was riddled with numerous material inconsistencies. 

On Sept 2, the Court of Appeal, comprising Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Justice Sushil Nair and Justice Ang Cheng Hock, allowed his appeal and acquitted him of all four charges.

The court said the inconsistencies in the woman’s testimony, when viewed collectively, gave rise to reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.

One of the inconsistencies relates to whether the woman had screamed during the alleged rape.

Six days after the alleged assault, she told a doctor that she had screamed, and that Panfilov tried to choke her and pressed a pillow over her head to silence her.

This contradicted her testimony in court that she wanted to scream but did not end up screaming.

Given that neither of Panfilov’s two flatmates reported hearing anything unusual that night, Hadi suggested that the woman changed her account because she realised her earlier account could not be reconciled with their evidence.

The judges said the woman “may have embellished the facts” in her account to the doctor.  

Another inconsistency relates to the blood-stained underwear that was tendered in court as an exhibit to support her account of a violent assault.

Expert witnesses for the prosecution and the defence agreed that the only injury observed on the woman could not account for the amount of blood found on the underwear.

The defence’s expert raised the possibility of pre-menstrual spotting as a cause, but the issue was not resolved at the trial.

According to the woman, she broke down in tears when she returned home that night to find blood on her underwear.

The piece of clothing was in her laundry basket for six days until Jan 18, 2021, when she “had to dig through” the basket to find it.

The Court of Appeal said doubt has been raised about the source of the blood and whether the exhibit was the underwear that she wore on the night of the alleged assault.

The third issue relates to the woman’s inability to recall that on Jan 16, 2021, four days after the alleged rape, she had visited a clinic to specifically ask for a doctor’s memo stating her injuries and what the probable cause might have been.

According to clinical notes, she wanted the memo so that she could potentially approach Panfilov’s family with it and “let them know what happened”.

When the doctor declined to examine her before she made a formal police report, she asked the doctor to erase any record of that consultation.

The same day, she went to a neighbourhood police centre but left without lodging a report. 

The judges said they found it difficult to accept her testimony that she had no recollection of having asked for the memo.

They also found it “puzzling” that she initially hesitated to make a police report, citing lack of evidence as a reason.

This was inconsistent with her account that the evidence was sitting in her laundry basket all along.

A police report was eventually made on Jan 18, 2021, after she told her mother what had happened, and her mother took her to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

The court said the complainant could not offer a satisfactory explanation for the inconsistencies, and that her testimony fell short of the “unusually convincing” standard that is needed to overcome the lack of corroborative evidence.

The judges said they were also troubled by what took place during the time Panfilov left the bed and went to the adjoining bathroom to put on a condom.

While they accepted that some sexual assault victims may understandably “freeze”, they said that her account of remaining on the bed while Panfilov was in the bathroom was at odds with her account that she had put up resistance.

Panfilov, who had been remanded in custody, smiled broadly after the verdict. His girlfriend was among those present in court.

In comments to The Straits Times through his counsel from law firm Eugene Thuraisingam Asia, he said his faith in Singapore’s judicial system has been restored.

He added: “This ordeal has made me a lot more educated. Young people should spend their time reading and not spend too much of their time on social media.”

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

OG rejects lawsuit from Hao Mart-linked company as an ‘abuse of process’ Rule of law must adapt as society’s values, circumstances evolve: Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon