20-year-old made young half-brothers perform sex acts on him, gets probation

SINGAPORE — A 20-year-old man was sentenced to 21 months’ probation on Monday (Aug 16) for sexually abusing his two half-brothers, who were aged eight and 10 at the time of the offences last year.

The Singaporean cannot be named due to a court order to protect his victims’ identities. He had earlier pleaded guilty to two charges of procuring the commission of an indecent act by a child.

As part of his probation conditions, he has to remain indoors from 10pm to 6am for the duration of the probation, perform 60 hours of community service and undergo offence-specific programmes.

District Judge May Mesenas ordered that he not be left unsupervised with children under 12, and he should not contact or visit the victims unless supervised. 

He was also placed on an electronic monitoring scheme for six months or until he enlists for National Service.

His father posted a bond of S$5,000 to ensure his good behaviour during the probation period.

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.

The young man and his victims shared the same mother, the court heard. She had divorced his father and remarried, before divorcing the younger boys’ father.

Under a shared custody arrangement, the victims — who were in Primary 2 and 4 respectively — stayed at the mother’s home on weekends and interacted with the older stepbrother during these stays.

Investigations revealed that sometime in August or September last year, the young man visited his mother’s home and played a football-related game on a PlayStation 4 console with his 10-year-old stepbrother.

They did so in a room designated for the boys’ playtime. 

When the boy lost the game, he tried to leave the room. The older sibling then grabbed his arm and told him to touch his penis since he had lost.

The older sibling then lay down on a bed in the room, removed his pants and underwear, and instructed the boy again to touch and massage his penis.

When the boy refused, he was offered five dollars to do so. 

The 10-year-old gave in because he felt the stepbrother “looked intimidating”, the court heard.

The boy performed the sex act for at least 10 minutes before he was told to stop.

Feeling disgusted and scared, the victim ran out of the room and refused to accept money. 

He then told their mother, who was in the living room, what had just happened. Court documents did not reveal what she did after that.

On Sept 5 last year, she told her oldest son to look after the boys, promising to give him some money for the task.

This time, he told the eight-year-old to touch his private parts. The boy agreed when he persisted in his requests.

After some time, he let the boy go when he said that he needed to use the toilet. 

The eight-year-old then left the room and told their mother that he was going to wash his “dirty” hands and that he had performed a sex act on the stepbrother.

Court documents similarly did not reveal what she did after that.

About two weeks later, the two younger boys’ father made a police report at Bedok South Neighbourhood Police Centre.

Adult offenders can be jailed for up to seven years or fined up to S$10,000, or both.