Updated: 02/07/2014 14:29 | By Channel NewsAsia
Man jailed 10 weeks for commercial sex with underage girl
Khoo Yi Xuan, 25, paid $300 for the sexual services of the minor at his home in Kembangan in February last year. He is the eighth man to be convicted and jailed for having paid sex with the student. -- ST FILE PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
SINGAPORE: A financial consultant became the eight man in an online vice ring to be jailed for having commercial sex with an underage girl.
A district court on Friday sentenced 25-year-old Khoo Yi Xuan to 10 weeks' jail for the crime -- which took place in February 2013 at his home.
He paid S$300 to have sex with the girl, who was then 16 years old at the time.
The court heard that Khoo had come across a website advertising the girl's services, while he was browsing online. He then sent a text message to the number listed on the website to engage the girl for her sexual services.
Khoo did not ask to see the girl's identity card when she came to his home.
The court also heard that the girl was one of those procured by Malcolm Graham Head, 33, and his girlfriend Veronica Patricia Rio, 19. They ran an online prostitution ring by advertising the sexual services of these women on various websites.
In the case of the underage girl, she was tricked by Head into working for his online vice ring, fed drugs so she could stay awake and serve more customers, and beaten up.
Head pleaded guilty in January 2014.
In mitigation, Khoo's lawyer Mr Terence Tay asked the court to impose a lenient sentence on his client given Khoo's young age, and the fact that he is a first-time offender.
Khoo could have been jailed up to seven years and fined for having paid sex with a girl who is under 18 years old. - CNA/ac
