Paedophile football coach, 28, gets 26 years' jail, caning for performing oral sex on 7 boys

A football coach who sexually assaulted seven boys aged between 8 and 11 was sentenced on Monday morning (March 19) to 26 years’ jail and 24 strokes of the cane. 

Bernard Tan Meng Soon, 28, pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual assault by penetration. 

During the sentencing, 20 other charges were taken into consideration, reports The Straits Times. 

Judge Valerie Thean said that although there was a there was a “degree of premeditation" on Tan's part, his guilty plea allowed the victims to avoid the trauma of trial.

Tan was diagnosed a paedophile in 2016 after committing the offences, worked as a coach to a football team.

He had started as a helper in 2012, coaching an amateur football team that comprised of teens aged between 12 and 17. 

Tan then took over as coach two years later and started to recruit much younger boys. 

He actively created and distributed pamphlets outside primary school and neighbourhoods in north-west Singapore. 

By 2015, most of his team was comprised of primary school boys aged 12 and below. 

The prosecutors said that tan then exploiting his position, deliberately sought to isolate the boys in public areas such as toilet cubicles, where he would perform oral sex on the boys and "gratify his own perverse desires”.

The prosecution sought a sentence of at least 27 years’ imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane, noting that Tan had an ‘at least moderate to high’ risk of reoffending. 

Deputy Public Prosecutors David Khoo and James Chew said:

"In doing so, he exploited the inherent vulnerability of the victims as children of tender age, and gravely abused his position of trust and authority as their football coach.”

Tan’s defence lawyer Wee Hong Shern sought a jail term of fewer than 20 years, citing that Tan himself was sodomised by his bus driver when he was 15 years old. 

While pleading guilty on Monday, Tan, who was diagnosed as having low IQ as a child, told the court:

“I know I have done wrong.”

Tan would pick up some of the victims from their homes and send them back after training. 

After the parents’ of the victims gave them permission to join Tan’s team, he would then proceed to target the boys.

Investigators uncovered 13 videos of Tanj performing oral sex on a boy in his Facebook Messager account. 

A victim who was only 10 at the time of offence, was lured into a nursing room at Bukit Panjang Plaza on Aug 17, 2015. 

Tan then performed oral sex on him. 

The victim did not know why Tan was doing it and decided to silently count to 250 before Tan stopped. 

The boy was sexually assaulted by Tan on eight more occasions within two months. 

He subsequently told his parents on Sept 24, 2015, that he did not want to go for football training anymore. 

Upon further questioning, he revealed Tan’s deeds. 

The victim’s parents lodged a police report next day and Tan was arrested in his home on Oct 1, 2015. 

He has been in remand since Oct 3, 2015.