Malaysian man convicted of sexual offences against boys

SINGAPORE — A 31-year-old Malaysian man today (Jan 16) pleaded guilty and was convicted of 12 counts of sexual offences against different boys aged 11 to 15, 10 of whom he penetrated sexually.

Yap Weng Wah agreed to have 64 other charges of sexual offences taken into consideration for sentencing.

The 76 counts involved 31 victims in total. One count related to procuring an obscene video from a boy.

Yap was arrested in 2012 after a victim lodged a police report stating Yap had sexually penetrated him.

The High Court heard that Yap would befriend the boys online before meeting up with them to commit the offences. He also had over 2,000 videos — including of his victims — on his laptop and phone.

Yap was a quality assurance engineer and committed the offences between 2009 — the year he moved to Singapore — and 2012.

Prosecutors are seeking at least 30 years’ jail and 24 strokes of the cane for Yap, who will be sentenced by Justice Woo Bih Li at a later date.

Yap tearfully addressed the judge, expressing remorse for his deeds and apologising to his victims and their families, vowing not to repeat his offences.

Yap’s mother, aunt and two siblings, who live in Ipoh, were present in court.