Man caught performing sexual act with 13-year-old girl at car park staircase gets 8 months' jail

SINGAPORE: A 25-year-old warehouse assistant who was caught engaging in a sexual act with a 13-year-old girl at a multi-storey car park in February was sentenced to eight months' jail on Friday (Jun 22).

The man, who cannot be named due to a gag order, first met the victim through Instagram and Facebook in December last year.

They met on four or five occasions before the incident and began dating. He was aware that the victim, who lived with her grandparents and uncle, was a Secondary 2 student at the time.

On Feb 15 this year at about 9pm, the girl's uncle returned home from work and saw that she had dressed up and was going out.

The victim said she was going to meet a friend at the staircase outside the home. However, about two hours later, the girl's uncle heard from his sister that the teenager was going to meet a man.

The uncle then found the Facebook messages from the man on the victim's laptop and went to the multi-storey car park with his sister to look for the girl.

The uncle found the girl and the man engaged in a sexual act at the staircase of the car park. Deputy Public Prosecutor Sruthi Boppana told the court that the uncle was shocked and angry and confronted both of them before calling the police.

District Judge Jasvender Kaur sentenced the man to eight months' jail on one charge of committing an obscene or indecent act with a child or young person.

The first-time offender could have been jailed for up to five years, fined up to S$10,000, or both.