Man asked teen if she was a virgin, showed her porn before molesting her in condo guardhouse

Jessie Lim
The Straits Times
Oct 11, 2022

A security supervisor molested a 16-year-old girl while both of them were working at a condominium.

He touched the victim's private parts for 30 minutes, despite her telling him multiple times to stop. He also offered her $100 to perform a sexual act, which she refused.

On Tuesday, the man, 58, was sentenced to 12 months' jail after he pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual exploitation of a young person. Two other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

The Singaporean cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the victim's identity.

The court heard that in February 2022, the man engaged the girl and her stepfather as temporary security guards at the condominium.

The girl had recently finished her secondary education and was waiting to enter the Institute of Technical Education in July.

On Feb 13, while he was alone with the girl in the condominium guardhouse, he initiated a conversation by asking her if she was a virgin. She replied yes.

At about 5pm, while the girl's stepfather was in the rest room, the man showed her a pornographic video on his mobile phone, but she did not want to watch it.

When he insisted, she relented and sat next to him to watch it. He started rubbing her thighs, despite her attempts to push his hands away.

He later slid his hands into her pants and molested her for about 30 minutes, despite her protests. He stopped only after noticing someone approaching the guardhouse.

When the coast was clear, he offered the girl $100 to perform a sex act on him. She refused and made an excuse to go to the toilet.

On her way back, he noticed she was walking to the rest room and placed a finger on his lips to signal her not to tell her stepfather. But she ignored him.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Edwin Ho asked for a sentence of 12 to 14 months' jail, noting that there were several aggravating factors.

He said: "The degree of exploitation was severe and (the incident) continued for a very long period of 30 minutes.

"The accused was not remorseful... He intended to cover up the incident by gesturing to the victim not to report (it) by placing a finger on his lips."

During sentencing, District Judge Marvin Bay said: "Even within the context of her temporary employment as a security personnel, the accused was effectively the victim's supervisor. It was reasonable for the victim to have reposed trust in the accused.

"(The accused) had only desisted when he realised another person was in the area."

He added it was obvious the accused knew what he was doing was very wrong.

For sexual exploitation of a young person, an offender can be fined $10,000, jailed for up to five years, or both.