<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Underage sex: Teen dad gets a year's probation
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Carolyn Quek
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SHE had been pregnant for seven months, but the underage girl did not know it.
It was discovered only after her parents sent the then 14-year-old for a check-up last year, after they confronted her.
In September last year, the baby was born and later put up for adoption.
Yesterday, the baby's father, also 14 at the time, was placed on a year-long supervised probation by the Juvenile Court after he pleaded guilty to two counts of carnal connection.
His offences were uncovered four days after the baby boy was born, when an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officer who registered the birth informed the police.
The father could have been jailed for up to five years and fined up to $10,000 on each charge if he had been 16 or above when he engaged in the acts.
He was also ordered to stay indoors from 9pm to 6am during this time and will have to perform 120 hours of community service.
Both teens, who are now in Secondary 4, cannot be named to protect their identities.
In sentencing, District Judge Wong Li Tein reprimanded the father for his actions which resulted in 'serious' consequences.
There are many carnal connection cases, she noted, but few had led to a baby.
Part of the reason why the offences were committed was because he had been watching pornography, and the judge ordered him to stop doing so.
She also told him not to contact the girl any more.
The teens met in July 2007 through the Internet when they were both 13.
Within a month, the 'casual friends' had become an item. She started going over to his flat and, later that month, engaged in sex for the first time.
The young couple had sex again some time in December 2007 at the boy's place.
At that time, no one was at the flat, and he invited her into his room to use the computer. They ended up having sex instead.
They did it again in June last year, when she was already six months pregnant. But it was only in July last year that the girl suspected she might be expecting, after missing her period for several months.
But she did not take any action, as she 'did not know what to do'.
It was also at around this time that her parents confronted her. The girl denied it initially, but a subsequent check-up showed that she was 28 weeks pregnant.
The teen mother joins a growing group of girls in Singapore who are having sex below the age of 16.
Last year, there were 310 such girls caught engaging in consensual sex - nearly 45 per cent more than in 2007.
This was also a huge jump from the 163 girls found doing so five years ago.
Provisional figures also showed that there were 10 babies born to mothers under 15 last year, and 798 babies born to mothers aged 15 to 19. <!-- end of for each --><!-- Current Ratings : start --><SCRIPT language=javascript> addRatingPortion() </SCRIPT>
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Carolyn Quek
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->SHE had been pregnant for seven months, but the underage girl did not know it.
It was discovered only after her parents sent the then 14-year-old for a check-up last year, after they confronted her.
In September last year, the baby was born and later put up for adoption.
Yesterday, the baby's father, also 14 at the time, was placed on a year-long supervised probation by the Juvenile Court after he pleaded guilty to two counts of carnal connection.
His offences were uncovered four days after the baby boy was born, when an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officer who registered the birth informed the police.
The father could have been jailed for up to five years and fined up to $10,000 on each charge if he had been 16 or above when he engaged in the acts.
He was also ordered to stay indoors from 9pm to 6am during this time and will have to perform 120 hours of community service.
Both teens, who are now in Secondary 4, cannot be named to protect their identities.
In sentencing, District Judge Wong Li Tein reprimanded the father for his actions which resulted in 'serious' consequences.
There are many carnal connection cases, she noted, but few had led to a baby.
Part of the reason why the offences were committed was because he had been watching pornography, and the judge ordered him to stop doing so.
She also told him not to contact the girl any more.
The teens met in July 2007 through the Internet when they were both 13.
Within a month, the 'casual friends' had become an item. She started going over to his flat and, later that month, engaged in sex for the first time.
The young couple had sex again some time in December 2007 at the boy's place.
At that time, no one was at the flat, and he invited her into his room to use the computer. They ended up having sex instead.
They did it again in June last year, when she was already six months pregnant. But it was only in July last year that the girl suspected she might be expecting, after missing her period for several months.
But she did not take any action, as she 'did not know what to do'.
It was also at around this time that her parents confronted her. The girl denied it initially, but a subsequent check-up showed that she was 28 weeks pregnant.
The teen mother joins a growing group of girls in Singapore who are having sex below the age of 16.
Last year, there were 310 such girls caught engaging in consensual sex - nearly 45 per cent more than in 2007.
This was also a huge jump from the 163 girls found doing so five years ago.
Provisional figures also showed that there were 10 babies born to mothers under 15 last year, and 798 babies born to mothers aged 15 to 19. <!-- end of for each --><!-- Current Ratings : start --><SCRIPT language=javascript> addRatingPortion() </SCRIPT>
