Tennis coach who kissed and performed sexual acts on underage male student gets jail

Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
December 18, 2020

A tennis coach was jailed on Friday (Dec 18) for kissing his underage male student and performing sexual acts on him.

The prosecution told a district court that Phoo Siang Qing had abused the trust placed in him and performed such acts on the boy who was just 15 years old at the time.

The 40-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to two years and nine months' jail for committing the offences in 2013 and 2014.

He had pleaded guilty to two charges under the Children and Young Persons Act and one count of sexual penetration involving the minor.

Defence lawyer Peter Fernando had pleaded for his client to be given 16 months' jail, stressing that Phoo is "sincerely repentant".

Mr Fernando also told Senior District Judge Ong Hian Sun that Phoo had found that he was not attracted to women and has a history of "severe depression".

The lawyer added that Phoo has sought treatment and is compliant with his medication.