SINGAPORE, July 30 — Three years ago, when he was 16, Danish Mirza Kamrudin Shah forced a 13-year-old girl to perform an obscene act on him at the void deck of a public housing block in Tampines.

A few months later, he became intimate with another 13-year-old girl. He engaged in a sex act with this other girl and ignored her phone text messages when she complained of pain later. 

Yesterday, Danish, now 19, was sentenced to a minimum of six months’ reformative training, a regimented rehabilitation programme for offenders under 21 who commit relatively serious crimes. 

Offenders are given a minimum period that is subject to how they respond to the rehabilitation. Reformative training is a harsher punishment than probation, which allows young offenders to continue with their education or employment while serving their sentences.

Danish had pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual penetration of a minor under 14, with five similar charges taken into consideration for sentencing.

The case

Danish knew his first victim through their common religious classes, although they attended different secondary schools.

In January 2017, Danish befriended her through Instagram. They told each other their names and respective ages.

After chatting for some time, he asked her if she was willing to do “squarebox” with him — referring to oral sex. 

They met on March 1 and went to a public housing block in Tampines next to Sun Plaza Park. He brought up “squarebox” again and told her to hang out at the staircase with him. She agreed.

He later forced her to perform the obscene act. They left separately afterwards and he apologised via Instagram a few hours later.

The girl filed a police report six days later and the authorities began investigating Danish.

Sometime in April and May that year, he befriended another 13-year-old girl on Instagram. He eventually asked if she wanted to have sex with him and she agreed.

They met at Sun Plaza Park and he took her to a toilet meant for people with disabilities, where they had sex.

As this was her first time having sex, she experienced pain, but he told her to endure it. 

They continued chatting via WhatsApp after the encounter and he later asked for her nude photos. She sent him one after some persuasion. He then sent her two obscene videos of himself. 

In January 2018, she told him that she had developed feelings for him, but he said that he had “someone else in mind” and they should remain friends.

The next month, he again asked her for sex and she agreed. They returned to the same toilet and she again complained of pain during the sex act.

A few days later, she told him that she was still in pain. He told her to “eat pineapple” and stopped texting her. 

The girl complained to her teacher and was referred to a school counsellor. She later filed a police report.

Acts ‘callous, disturbing’ 

In passing sentence, District Judge Marvin Bay noted several risk factors from a report that assessed Danish’s suitability for probation. 

Danish had friends who introduced him to pornography from a young age. His parents did not educate him on sexuality. 

These affected his attitudes towards sexual relationships and habits, District Judge Bay said.

He also showed an inability to control his urges and did not think about the consequences of his actions, the judge said.

While in secondary school and the Institute of Technical Education, Danish committed other offences that showed a blatant disregard for rules, laws and authority, such as taking a female student to a toilet to smoke.

District Judge Bay said that he found Danish’s offences “quite disturbing”, as he had used some level of force against both girls.

He displayed “a level of callousness” against the second victim and continued to use the 13-year-old to “fulfil his carnal desires”, he added. — TODAY