SINGAPORE – 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.
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