SINGAPORE, Sept 22 — At the age of 16, he made three teenage girls have sex with him. One of them was only 13 while another was unwell and running a fever at the time.
A couple of years later, when he was in a relationship, his girlfriend noticed him texting other girls on the phone. She wanted to break up with him but he frequently threatened to kill himself if she left him.
He then began turning up at her home or workplace, lied to her colleagues that she was skipping work and harassed her relatives.
He did not stop even when they finally ended their relationship.
In 2020, he threatened to publish her explicit photos and videos online if she did not unblock him on social media and change her Instagram profile picture.
For his actions spanning four years, the Singaporean youth, now aged 22, was today ordered to undergo 21 months’ probation.
He cannot be named because he committed some of the offences when he was under 18. The Children and Young Persons Act bans the publication of the identities of young offenders.
He earlier pleaded guilty to four charges of sexual penetration of a minor, along with one charge each of unlawful stalking and threatening to distribute intimate recordings. He did not face any charges of rape or sexual assault.
Has ‘strong familial support’
Today, Deputy Public Prosecutor Louis Ngia told the court that he “did not object” to probation being meted out in line with the probation officer’s recommendation.
“While we maintain that the offences are rather serious ones, we have taken into account the fact that (the youth) appears to have strong familial support and most of the offences were committed at a very young age of 16 years old,” the prosecutor added.
The youth’s lawyer Riko Isaac said that his client was willing to comply with the terms of probation.
District Judge Janet Wang ultimately imposed the community-based sentence, but she cautioned that the courts are not bound to follow the recommendations of probation officers.
Probation is usually offered to first-time offenders between 16 and 21 years old. This does not result in a recorded criminal conviction and allows young offenders to continue with their education or employment while serving their sentences.
As part of his probation conditions, the youth has to perform 60 hours of community service, and he has to remain indoors from midnight to 6am.
He also has to attend psychological treatment and allow his probation officer to monitor and check his internet devices.
His parents posted a bond of S$5,000 to ensure his good behaviour during the probation period.
First two victims
Court documents detailed his offences against two girls — then aged 13 and 15 — as well as his ex-girlfriend.
The younger girl had developed feelings for him but they never got into a relationship.
On one occasion, she followed him home when he claimed that he wanted to confide in someone about his personal problems.
They went into his bedroom because his grandmother was also home.
He began to cry while confiding in her, before suddenly kissing her on the lips and forcing himself on her. She pushed him away and tried to protest.
However, he told her that he knew she wanted to have sex with him, before holding her down on the bed to have his way with her.
After the sexual acts, she left in a confused and emotionally fragile state.
Unsure if she was now in a relationship with him, she sent him text messages. He gave curt replies before eventually ignoring her.
The girl later realised that he was not interested in dating her, and was upset that he had used her against her will to satisfy his sexual desires, the court heard.
As for the 15-year-old girl, she began dating him in June 2016.
She went over to his home one day when he suggested that she rest at his place before they went on a date. She was running a fever then.
Feeling very tired and ill, she complied when he asked her to go to his bedroom, thinking she could take a short nap there.
When she closed her eyes, he began touching her chest before engaging in sexual acts with her. She was too weak and powerless to resist, eventually giving him and letting him have his way.
They broke up two months later when she found out that he was cheating on her.
These offences came to light in May 2018 after he told a youth worker about having sexual intercourse with three girls when he was 16.
Harassed ex-girlfriend
Separately, the youth began dating another girl in early 2018 after meeting her in school. Their relationship was “emotionally distressing” for her from the start, the court heard.
Four months later, she began telling him that she wanted to break up with him because she often saw him texting many girls.
He then threatened to kill himself. When these threats stopped working, he resorted to other methods such as going to her home in the early hours of the morning.
In June 2019, she left for a few months for an internship in Vietnam.
During this period, noticing that she did not respond to his messages, he threatened to contact her colleagues in Vietnam.
When she did not accede to his threats, he sent messages to her colleagues and family members over Facebook Messenger in order to make her respond to him.
He threatened to repeatedly call her office, lied to her colleagues that she was skipping work or resigning, and threatened to make a false police report that her male boss was harassing her.
Because of this, she felt compelled to not have lunch with male colleagues on his demands.
They eventually broke up in February 2020 but he continued asking her to get back together.
Things came to a head on May 15, 2020. This was during the Covid-19 circuit breaker period here when people were not allowed to leave their homes save for essential purposes.
He told her he was preparing to post her explicit photos and videos online unless she unblocked him on social media and changed her Instagram display picture.
She had told him to delete the lewd material, which he recorded while they were dating, but he refused.
When she did not give in to his demands, he forwarded her one of the videos.
She was particularly alarmed by this because she knew he belonged to the Telegram chat group “SG Nasi Lemak”, where members shared obscene material of Singaporean women.
She filed a police report — the second one after she went to the police in September 2019.
Adult offenders convicted of sexually penetrating a minor under 14 can be jailed for up to 20 years, and fined or caned. The punishment for the same offence against a minor under 16 is imprisonment of up to 10 years or a fine, or both. — TODAY
