Man had sex and year-long affair with step-sister's 12-year-old best friend

Kok Yufeng
The New Paper
June 14, 2019

He was twice her age but still had a year-long affair with the 12-year-old.

She was the best friend of the man's younger step-sister and he once forced her to have unnatural sex even after she said no.

The man, who cannot be named due to a gag order, pleaded guilty yesterday to three counts of sexually penetrating a minor under 14.

He was jailed for three years and 11 months.

Two other sexual penetration offences and one charge of ill-treating his step-sister were taken into consideration. During sentencing, District Judge Marvin Bay said the court must take a very strong stand in all cases involving the sexual exploitation of young victims.

The two first met in 2013 when the girl was in Primary 3. The man's step-sister started school two years late and was the girl's classmate.

The girl began to spend more time at the man's one-room flat, where he lived with his mother and step-sister, and they developed feelings for each other.

The girl's mother and step-father were in jail, while her father was in a halfway house due to substance abuse. She lived either with her maternal grandmother or paternal grandfather.

When he asked her to be his girlfriend in August 2015, she raised concerns about their age gap but ultimately agreed. Her grandparents disapproved of the relationship, but could not stop them from meeting.

When he initiated sex a couple of months into their relationship, she was initially reluctant and pushed him away. She eventually consented. The affair was exposed in August 2016 when the girl admitted it to her teacher, who spoke to her about her absence from school.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Angela Ang said the man occupied a clear position of influence in the girl's life but did not provide her with healthy support, instead betraying her trust.

Defence counsel Henry Lim said the man had a clean record and there was no pre-meditation or deception in this case.

In another case, a full-time national serviceman, 18, was yesterday given 18 months' supervised probation for outraging the modesty of a young girl, also 12 years old.

Pretending he needed help for a photography competition, Lester Ong had lured the girl to a staircase landing, where he molested her.

District Judge Eddy Tham said he was prepared to give Ong a chance and there would be no record if he kept to the conditions of his probation and did not re-offend.

Ong will have to perform 120 hours of community service, remain indoors from 10pm to 6am, and attend psycho-education on healthy sexuality and responsible sexual conduct.

He also cannot be left alone with children under 12 years old without adult supervision.