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http://www.asiaone.com/News/The+New+Paper/Story/A1Story20101229-255408.html
Fri, Dec 31, 2010
The New Paper
She had several sex partners by 12
By Vivien Chan
AT THE tender age of 12, she was already sexually active with different men. One of them was 35 years old, almost triple her age.
Then, one day in 2008, the girl had a bad stomach ache and was vomiting. She was warded at the National University Hospital and checks showed that she was pregnant.
The girl, who had turned 13 by then, admitted that she had had sex with "several male persons". The discovery sparked off a police investigation and six of her sexual partners were tracked down.
On Tuesday, one of them pleaded guilty to having sex with the underage girl.
The 23-year-old trainee teacher with the National Institute of Education admitted to having carnal connection with the girl, then 12, in his flat in September 2007.
Three months before that, he tried to have sex with her but failed. Tests showed that he was not the biological father of her baby, which was aborted.
Charges
The man also had sex with his girlfriend, who was then 15, in 2008. For that, he faced three charges of sexually penetrating a minor.
There is a court order against identifying the accused and the girls. District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim jailed him for 15 months and he will start his sentence on Jan 4 next year.
The other five men who had sex with the girl have already been sentenced. At the time of their offences in 2007 and 2008, they were aged between 19 and 35.
Two of them were fined, another two were jailed for three months and the 35-year-old was jailed for 18 months on three counts of carnal connection.
It is not the first time that men have been hauled to court for having sex with minors.
Earlier this year, it was reported that more girls under the age of 14 are having sex.
There were 83 reported cases of statutory rape last year, upfrom 61 cases in 2008. The youngest victim was 12.
Ms Sheena Jebal, founder of NuLife Care & Counselling Services told The New Paper that when young children become sexually active, they might have had some exposure to such behaviour.
"This could have come from within the home or in the way the parents bring up and nurture the child," said Ms Jebal.
She recounted a case where a girl, then 15, ended up in a girls' home after she engaged in sex.
"When she was 11, her mother started bringing different boyfriends home,"Ms Jebal said. At one point, the mother even got involved with a married man.
"Some parents can be excessively intimate with their new partners in front of their children. What message does that send to the kids?" she said.
Ms Jebal pointed out that children nowadays are also becoming more vain at a younger age and this "evokes the attention-seeking behaviour in the child".
Dr Carol Balhetchet, director of Singapore Children's Society's youth services, said young girls could also be looking for "sugar daddies" to provide them with anything they want and make them feel "safe and protected".
Some girls may not even come from broken families, but turn to older men because the men are more indulgent than their fathers.
"But no matter what the young girl's reason is, she's still a child," she said.
Online chat
So when young children end up having sex, the bulk of the blame should fall on their older sexual partners because they should have been more mature and responsible, she added.
In the trainee teacher's case, he got to know the 12-year-old girl in late 2006 on an online chat when she was 11 and in Primary Six. He was 19 and doing his national service.
They exchanged phone numbers and communicated through text messages. Defence lawyer Amolat Singh said in the man's mitigation that in June 2007, the girl invited him to her flat when her parents were out.
She suggested having sex but he was unable to. In September 2007, he invited her to his flat and they had sex in his bedroom.
For having carnal connection with a girl under 16, he could have been jailed five years and fined $10,000. For sexually penetrating a minor, he could have been jailed 10 years and fined.
Accused had sex with girl, 15, in mall toilet
HE HAD sex with a 15-year-old girl in a toilet for the handicapped at West Mall shopping centre in April 2008.
They had sex two more times the following month.
On Tuesday, the tall youth, who wore a long-sleeved light grey shirt and black pants, was visibly nervous before his case was mentioned in court.
His father and aunt sat behind him. The 23-year-old trainee teacher pleaded guilty to one charge of sexually penetrating the minor and agreed to have the other two charges be taken into consideration.
His lawyer, Mr Amolat Singh, told the court in his mitigation that the accused, then an 18-year-old polytechnic student, met the girl on an online chat.
Within two weeks, they exchanged phone numbers and SMSed each other.
They met for the first time at West Mall four weeks later. He sensed that the girl had a crush on him and they later went to the highest floor of a HDB block where the girl hugged him at a staircase.
They engaged in some "dirty talk" in Mandarin and she took his hand and rubbed her private parts with it.
After that incident, they did not meet for more than a year but kept in touch through text messages.
It was during this period that he got involved with a 12-year-old girl.
West Mall
In April 2008, the accused, then a 20-year-old full-time national serviceman, met the 15-year-old girl again at West Mall.
She asked him if he would touch her again and he replied that they were in a public place. They then went into a toilet for the handicapped on the fifth floor.
Inside, the girl hugged and kissed him before undressing. He also undressed and they had sex.
They had sex two more times the next month.
On June 26, she lodged a report against him at a neighbourhood police post. It was not mentioned in court why she did so.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Sellakumaran said that the defence seemed to suggest that the victims had seduced the accused.
The DPP earlier told the court that the accused had first asked the girl for sex in March 2008 but was turned down. She later changed her mind in April.
Mr Singh said the fact that the girls were underage remained the crux of the case and the accused was aware of their ages.
He said he had explained to his client that the "disposition of the victims is irrelevant to the charge".
Urging the court to impose a light sentence, Mr Singh said that his client would be sacked from the National Institute of Education and have to repay $50,000 to $60,000 for breaching his training contract.
District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim said the "characters of the two victims are totally irrelevant".
She said the accused's five charges and the victims' young age were aggravating factors against him.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
Fri, Dec 31, 2010
The New Paper
She had several sex partners by 12
By Vivien Chan
AT THE tender age of 12, she was already sexually active with different men. One of them was 35 years old, almost triple her age.
Then, one day in 2008, the girl had a bad stomach ache and was vomiting. She was warded at the National University Hospital and checks showed that she was pregnant.
The girl, who had turned 13 by then, admitted that she had had sex with "several male persons". The discovery sparked off a police investigation and six of her sexual partners were tracked down.
On Tuesday, one of them pleaded guilty to having sex with the underage girl.
The 23-year-old trainee teacher with the National Institute of Education admitted to having carnal connection with the girl, then 12, in his flat in September 2007.
Three months before that, he tried to have sex with her but failed. Tests showed that he was not the biological father of her baby, which was aborted.
Charges
The man also had sex with his girlfriend, who was then 15, in 2008. For that, he faced three charges of sexually penetrating a minor.
There is a court order against identifying the accused and the girls. District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim jailed him for 15 months and he will start his sentence on Jan 4 next year.
The other five men who had sex with the girl have already been sentenced. At the time of their offences in 2007 and 2008, they were aged between 19 and 35.
Two of them were fined, another two were jailed for three months and the 35-year-old was jailed for 18 months on three counts of carnal connection.
It is not the first time that men have been hauled to court for having sex with minors.
Earlier this year, it was reported that more girls under the age of 14 are having sex.
There were 83 reported cases of statutory rape last year, upfrom 61 cases in 2008. The youngest victim was 12.
Ms Sheena Jebal, founder of NuLife Care & Counselling Services told The New Paper that when young children become sexually active, they might have had some exposure to such behaviour.
"This could have come from within the home or in the way the parents bring up and nurture the child," said Ms Jebal.
She recounted a case where a girl, then 15, ended up in a girls' home after she engaged in sex.
"When she was 11, her mother started bringing different boyfriends home,"Ms Jebal said. At one point, the mother even got involved with a married man.
"Some parents can be excessively intimate with their new partners in front of their children. What message does that send to the kids?" she said.
Ms Jebal pointed out that children nowadays are also becoming more vain at a younger age and this "evokes the attention-seeking behaviour in the child".
Dr Carol Balhetchet, director of Singapore Children's Society's youth services, said young girls could also be looking for "sugar daddies" to provide them with anything they want and make them feel "safe and protected".
Some girls may not even come from broken families, but turn to older men because the men are more indulgent than their fathers.
"But no matter what the young girl's reason is, she's still a child," she said.
Online chat
So when young children end up having sex, the bulk of the blame should fall on their older sexual partners because they should have been more mature and responsible, she added.
In the trainee teacher's case, he got to know the 12-year-old girl in late 2006 on an online chat when she was 11 and in Primary Six. He was 19 and doing his national service.
They exchanged phone numbers and communicated through text messages. Defence lawyer Amolat Singh said in the man's mitigation that in June 2007, the girl invited him to her flat when her parents were out.
She suggested having sex but he was unable to. In September 2007, he invited her to his flat and they had sex in his bedroom.
For having carnal connection with a girl under 16, he could have been jailed five years and fined $10,000. For sexually penetrating a minor, he could have been jailed 10 years and fined.
Accused had sex with girl, 15, in mall toilet
HE HAD sex with a 15-year-old girl in a toilet for the handicapped at West Mall shopping centre in April 2008.
They had sex two more times the following month.
On Tuesday, the tall youth, who wore a long-sleeved light grey shirt and black pants, was visibly nervous before his case was mentioned in court.
His father and aunt sat behind him. The 23-year-old trainee teacher pleaded guilty to one charge of sexually penetrating the minor and agreed to have the other two charges be taken into consideration.
His lawyer, Mr Amolat Singh, told the court in his mitigation that the accused, then an 18-year-old polytechnic student, met the girl on an online chat.
Within two weeks, they exchanged phone numbers and SMSed each other.
They met for the first time at West Mall four weeks later. He sensed that the girl had a crush on him and they later went to the highest floor of a HDB block where the girl hugged him at a staircase.
They engaged in some "dirty talk" in Mandarin and she took his hand and rubbed her private parts with it.
After that incident, they did not meet for more than a year but kept in touch through text messages.
It was during this period that he got involved with a 12-year-old girl.
West Mall
In April 2008, the accused, then a 20-year-old full-time national serviceman, met the 15-year-old girl again at West Mall.
She asked him if he would touch her again and he replied that they were in a public place. They then went into a toilet for the handicapped on the fifth floor.
Inside, the girl hugged and kissed him before undressing. He also undressed and they had sex.
They had sex two more times the next month.
On June 26, she lodged a report against him at a neighbourhood police post. It was not mentioned in court why she did so.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Sellakumaran said that the defence seemed to suggest that the victims had seduced the accused.
The DPP earlier told the court that the accused had first asked the girl for sex in March 2008 but was turned down. She later changed her mind in April.
Mr Singh said the fact that the girls were underage remained the crux of the case and the accused was aware of their ages.
He said he had explained to his client that the "disposition of the victims is irrelevant to the charge".
Urging the court to impose a light sentence, Mr Singh said that his client would be sacked from the National Institute of Education and have to repay $50,000 to $60,000 for breaching his training contract.
District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim said the "characters of the two victims are totally irrelevant".
She said the accused's five charges and the victims' young age were aggravating factors against him.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
