SINGAPORE: A part-time religious teacher and Arabic tutor sexually abused multiple underage boys, engaging in sexual acts with a 16-year-old even after realising he had contracted the HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) from an adult partner.
The 34-year-old Singaporean man pleaded guilty in the High Court on Friday (Sep 8) to three counts of sexual penetration of a minor.
Another 18 charges will be considered in sentencing, which was adjourned to a later date.
He cannot be named due to gag orders imposed by the court as his identification might lead to the victims' identification.
The court heard that the offender pursued religious studies in Singapore before studying Arabic in Egypt for one-and-a-half years.
He returned to Singapore in 2013 and worked part-time by providing religious and Arabic language home tuition. He was also a food delivery rider.
He targeted young boys, preying on them sexually over about four years from 2014 to 2018. This went on until a patrol cop stopped to check him when he was at Changi beach with young boys and found child pornography and a sexual message to a boy on his phone.
The first victim was 11 when he first met the offender on Grindr, an online dating application for men.
The victim, named as V1 in court documents, claimed he was a teenager but the offender noticed that V1 looked younger. He knew that V1 was below 14.
They chatted online about sexual topics, and V1 felt that he could trust the offender, who had said he was a part-time religious teacher.
They first engaged in sex acts in a mall toilet in 2014 and continued to meet for sexual activity up to November 2018, when V1 was 16.
V1 tested positive for HIV in July 2019, a diagnosis that left him with adjustment disorder. This was after the offender himself tested positive for HIV in February 2019, but the defence disputes that his client had passed the HIV to the boy.
THE SECOND VICTIM
The offender met the second victim, V2, in 2017, when the boy was 12. They met at the offender's home to play video games on a PlayStation in the offender's bedroom.
The pair would also swim together or ride e-scooters around the neighbourhood, and the offender often bought food and cigarettes for V2 and his friends.
He also gave V2 Mathematics tuition and knew that the boy was below 14.
In early 2018, when V2 was 13, V2 told the offender that he would allow the older man to perform a sex act on him in exchange for video game credits.
The offender agreed and bought about S$30 worth of game credits for V2. But V2 made an excuse to leave that day.
On another two occasions that year, the offender performed sex acts on V2 and bought game credits for him each time.
Throughout their acquaintance, V2 was uncomfortable with the man's sexual advances, but continued interacting with him as he believed the offender was a "religious person", and also because of the video game credits he would receive, the prosecution said.
THE THIRD VICTIM
The offender got to know the third victim V3, who was in primary school, in 2016 after chatting him up on Instagram.
V3 regarded the offender as an older brother, and the man often bought presents for the boy, including a second-hand PlayStation.
V3 noticed that the offender was making more physical contact with him, such as placing his head on V3's shoulder or touching his chest and thighs.
After a few months, the offender tried to molest and kiss V3, who said he did not like it and felt it was weird. However, the man persisted.
In 2017, when V3 was 14, he went to the highest floor of a Housing Board block to smoke with the offender.
The offender then performed a sex act on V3, who told him to stop it but eventually relented.
The man sexually abused V3 again in 2018.
In November 2018, the offender had unprotected sex with an adult male partner. In late January 2019, the offender developed a fever that persisted for weeks.
He also noticed growths and swelling on his body parts and suspected he had contracted a sexually transmitted disease. He tested positive for HIV in February 2019.
Despite this, he engaged in sex acts with V3 in June 2019, with condoms on. This was after he offered the 16-year-old boy money for a massage. He did not tell the boy that he was HIV-positive before engaging in the sex acts.
HOW HE WAS CAUGHT
The man was caught by chance on the night of Jun 26, 2019. He had met up with V2 and two other boys who were younger than 16, suggesting a swim near Changi Village.
He bought six bottles of vodka to share with the boys and they sat near Changi Beach to drink.
At around 10pm, police officers on patrol conducted a spot check on the group and found child porn on the offender's phone. They also found text messages including one where the man offered S$75 for a sex act from one of the boys. He was arrested and later remanded after failing to turn up in court.
The offender was assessed at the Institute of Mental Health and diagnosed with paedophilic disorder. A report stated that he was at a moderate to high risk of recidivism, given "his history of sexual deviancy, easy access to and grooming of multiple victims for sex".
The prosecution asked for 24 years' jail and eight strokes of the cane, calling the man "a serial sex offender" who groomed underage boys into "increasingly intrusive sexual contact".
"The accused portrayed himself as a religious man and an elder brother to gain the victims' trust," said the prosecutors. "In reality, he prioritised his own sexual gratification over their welfare and exposed them to disease."
They said the offences would "in all likelihood continued" had he not been arrested during a routine police spot check.
DEFENCE'S ARGUMENTS
Defence lawyer Vinit Chhabra asked for 16 to 18 years' jail instead, with no caning. He began by saying that nothing in the mitigation was intended to be "an excuse" for his client's actions or to "in any way minimise the seriousness of what he did".
He said his client had no previous convictions, and this would be his first and last brush with the law.
He said his client first believed that V1 was 18 or older as that was the minimum age for the Grindr application.
His client also claimed that he could not have passed HIV to V1, as he is "certain" he stopped sexual activity with him before contracting HIV.
"After the offences were committed, he took the boys to the mosque because he wanted to pray for forgiveness for the wrong he had done," said the lawyer.
He said his client was "deeply affected" after getting HIV and stopped all sexual activities except those with one adult partner.
His viral log test score went down to "very low", which he learnt meant that he had a very low risk of passing HIV to anyone. Even then, he took precautions to wear condoms in his sexual activity with V3 in 2019, said the lawyer.
He said his client did not have sexual or romantic relations with any of his students in an education institution, "so he hasn't taken advantage of every young person he was in contact with".
He also went to the mosque to pray, because "from a religious perspective, he knew what he had done was wrong".
He said his client hopes that the boys and their parents "will find it in their hearts to forgive him".
As for why his client had absconded while on bail, the lawyer said the offender felt "lost and fearful as to the consequences of proceedings" after his previous counsel discharged himself and "did not know how to communicate what he wished to about the case to the court".
Justice Pang Khang Chau adjourned the case for sentencing to a later date.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/sin...-boys-including-after-contracting-hiv-3755626
