20-year-old man gets reformative training for underage sex with 3 secondary school students

SINGAPORE: A 20-year-old man who had underage sex with three secondary school students was sentenced to a year's detention in a reformative training centre on Monday (Dec 6).

The offender pleaded guilty last month to four charges of sexual penetration of a minor, with another 15 charges, including stealing soft toys from a claw machine, taken into consideration.

The judge had called for a report assessing his suitability for reformative training, and he was found to be suitable and in good physical and mental condition for such a sentence. 

Reformative training is a harsher punishment than probation, and it detains younger offenders in a structured environment with an emphasis on rehabilitation.

The offender was working as a sales promoter when he met the first victim, then 14, at a shopping mall in November 2019. She had run away from a children's home and was at the mall.

They began dating and engaged in sexual activities, including intercourse at his friend's flat.

At the same time, the offender befriended the second victim aged 13 on Instagram. They met in November 2019 at a playground, where they kissed and hugged before engaging in sex acts at a nearby car park.

The man befriended the third victim, who was 14, on Instagram in January 2020 and proposed a "friends with benefits" relationship with her, the court heard.

They met at a hotel in Geylang the following month and had unprotected sex there.

All three victims flagged the offences - with the first confiding in a youth guidance officer, and the second in a teacher who noticed she was not behaving "normally". The third victim lodged a police report in August 2020, saying she had engaged in sexual intercourse with the offender.

The penalties for sexual penetration of a minor are a maximum of 20 years' jail and a fine or caning.