Badminton coach who groomed boy for sex jailed 5 years
Reuters file photo
SINGAPORE — A freelance badminton coach who committed a series of sexual offences against his then 13-year-old male student was today (Jan 13) sentenced to five years’ jail.
The 32-year-old, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, had abused his position of trust as the victim’s “role model and mentor”, said District Judge Salina Ishak, by pressuring the underage boy to have sex with him. The boy’s vulnerability made the offences more egregious, she said.
The coach, whose sentence will be deferred to Feb 15 upon his request, was convicted last October to eight counts of sexual penetration involving the boy, and one count each of asking the minor to perform an obscene act and committing an indecent act on the child. Thirteen similar charges were taken into consideration.
DJ Ishak said the manner in which the coach “groomed and pressurised’ the boy to have sex with him over a long period of time was aggravating. She noted that when his victim wanted the activities to stop, the coach threatened to sever their relationship and demanded that he return the items the coach had bought him.
The offences took place between 2012 and 2014, several of which occurred while the two were on overseas trips with others from the school’s badminton team. The two developed such a “close relationship” that the boy quit the team at end 2013 to continue training privately with the coach when he left his coaching position with his school, the court was told.
In a written mitigation plea tendered to the court, the coach said he had always thought the activities were “a personal matter”, where he and the boy were “indulging in sexual fantasies”. He maintained that the boy was a willing party in the relationship and had initiated sexual activities.
“I was leaning towards a gay relationship with the boy,” he said, adding that he was “naïve and silly” in the matter.
Referring to his mitigation as “an afterthought and an excuse”, deputy public prosecutor Randeep Singh Koonar said that as a 32-year-old, the coach “must have known that what he was doing was wrong”.
Presence of consent by an underage victim is not a mitigating factor, said DPP Singh.
The man is now out on bail, which was increased to S$25,000.
For sexual assault of a minor, the man could have been jailed 10 years and fined. For committing an indecent act with a child, he could have been jailed five years and fined S$10,000.
