14 years’ jail, caning for youth, 21, over sexual assault of multiple young girls, other offences

SINGAPORE — A 21-year-old recalcitrant offender has been sentenced to 14 years’ jail and 15 strokes of the cane over a string of offences including sexual assault of young girls.

The youth committed the offences when he was between 15 and 17 years old, and his victims were between the ages of 13 and 16.

Prosecutors said the accused committed several of these offences while on station and court bail. He eventually went on to commit violent crimes such as rioting and voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon.

The young man pleaded guilty on Sept 21 to charges including sexual assault involving penetration, outrage of modesty, aggravated outrage of modesty, statutory rape, rioting, and causing hurt by dangerous weapons.

He admitted to nine charges in total, with the court taking 29 other charges, including for threatening to and distributing intimate images and recordings of other victims, into consideration for sentencing

Justice Dedar Singh Gill, in delivering the sentence in the High Court, said the man showed a woeful disregard of the law as he had committed a number of the offences while he was out on bail, adding that the sheer number and variety of offences was disturbing.

There is a gag order to protect the identities of his victim. The youth cannot be identified as he was below 18 years old when he committed the offences.

Court documents showed that the offender was actively seeking out girls out through social media or mutual friends between November 2020 and December 2022.

He befriended the first victim on Instagram when she was 15 and he was 16.

On May 14, 2021, he invited her to his home and she agreed, as she had feelings for him. Deputy Public Prosecutor Jane Lim said the offender led her to believe he had the same feelings for her.

He had sexual intercourse with her over the next two days.

On May 30, 2021, he ended up penetrating her anally, causing her pain. The court heard he had behaved aggressively during most of the encounters, causing the victim to bleed on several occasions.

In July 2021, he got to know another victim. She was only 13 years old.

After chatting online, they met up on July 20, 2021. He took her to a staircase landing at a HDB block where he sexually assaulted her and made her perform sex acts on him.

The victim told her friend about the incident shortly after and a police report was lodged on July 30, 2021. The youth was arrested on Aug 30, 2021.

While out on bail, he got to know another girl, 14, through mutual friends in April 2022. After chatting with the gir online, he invited her to his home on Aug 12, 2022.

She agreed after he told her that two other friends were there. When she arrived, he asked both friends to leave, closed his bedroom door and told the girl he was going to punish her for being late.

The young man pinned her down on his bed by her shoulders and molested her. He proceeded to expose himself and tried to get her to perform a sex act on him.

When she refused, he grabbed her head and attempted to force her to perform the act. He also grabbed her hand, forcing her to touch his genital area.

The court heard the youth became angry when she continued to resist his attempts, and eventually told her to leave his home.

The girl told her uncle about the assault on Aug 23, 2022. Her uncle, who was then 29 years old, got the offender’s number and texted him that he wanted a meeting.

The offender decided to rope in four friends to confront the girl’s uncle. The offender brought along a knuckleduster and karambit knife to the uncle’s flat on the day of the meeting.

When the group arrived, the young man saw the girl’s uncle sitting alone at the void deck and confronted him. He pointed the karambit knife at the older man and threatened to blind him.

After the older man explained that all he wanted was to speak to the offender about his niece, the youth kept the knife.

He then assaulted the older man, punching him in the face and chest several times while wearing the knuckleduster. He continued to punch the older man’s abdomen when he fell to the ground, before his friends pulled him away.

The girl’s uncle received treatment at a hospital where he was found to have suffered from face and elbow contusions due to the assault.

Just days after assaulting the girl’s uncle, the youth attacked his next victim, a 13-year-old girl he befriended on Instagram, in a handicap toilet at Northpoint Shopping Centre.

While in the toilet on Aug 27, 2022, he grabbed the girl’s face and kissed her on the lips without her consent. He also sexually molested her.

He attacked his next victim, whom he met online as well, in a handicap toilet at Jurong Point on Dec 20, 2022.

The youth persuaded the 14-year-old girl to enter the toilet with him so he could vape. Once inside, he forcibly kissed and sexually assaulted her.

She pushed him away but he continued to grope her, while exposing himself. He then forced her hand to his genital area, and told her she could not leave until he was satisfied.

When she continued to resist him, he pulled her hair and hit her head against the wall.

She eventually managed to get out and filed a police report on Dec 22, 2022.

The court heard the youth was affiliated with a street corner gang at the time of the offences.

On Aug 18, 2022, he was part of a group of five people who beat up a 14-year-old boy after a member of his gang claimed he was unhappy with the teenager.

The group brought the victim to a multistorey carpark in Ang Mo Kio and beat him unconscious, only leaving after hearing the police arriving.

The victim was admitted to the hospital and found to have sustained minor bruising and abrasions over his face and scalp.

This article was first published in The Straits Times . Permission required for reproduction.

新加坡——一名21岁的惯犯因一系列罪行（包括性侵幼女）被判处14年监禁和15下鞭刑。

这名青少年犯罪时年龄在 15 岁到 17 岁之间，受害者年龄在 13 岁到 16 岁之间。

检方称，被告在保释期间犯下多起此类罪行。最终，他还犯下暴力犯罪，例如参与骚乱和使用危险武器蓄意伤人。

9月21日，这名年轻男子对包括性侵犯（涉及插入）、猥亵、严重猥亵、法定强奸、骚乱和使用危险武器伤人等指控认罪。

他承认了总共九项指控，法庭在量刑时将另外29项指控（包括威胁和散布其他受害者的私密照片和录音）纳入考量。

高等法院法官德达尔·辛格·吉尔在宣判时表示，该男子对法律表现出极大的漠视，因为他在保释期间犯下了多项罪行，并补充说，罪行的数量和种类之多令人不安。

为保护受害者的身份，法院下达了禁言令。由于这名青少年犯罪时未满18岁，因此不能透露其身份。

法庭文件显示，该罪犯在 2020 年 11 月至 2022 年 12 月期间，通过社交媒体或共同朋友积极寻找女孩。

他在 Instagram 上结识了第一位受害者，当时她 15 岁，他 16 岁。

2021年5月14日，他邀请她到他家，她同意了，因为她对他有好感。副检察官简·林表示，被告让她误以为他也对她有同样的感觉。

接下来的两天里，他与她发生了性关系。

2021年5月30日，他强行对她进行肛交，导致她疼痛难忍。法庭获悉，在大部分性侵过程中，他都表现出攻击性，多次导致受害者出血。

2021年7月，他认识了另一名受害者。她只有13岁。

两人在网上聊天后，于 2021 年 7 月 20 日见面。他把她带到组屋的楼梯平台，在那里性侵了她，并强迫她为他进行性行为。

受害者事发后不久便将此事告诉了她的朋友，并于 2021 年 7 月 30 日向警方报案。该青年于 2021 年 8 月 30 日被捕。

2022年4月，他在保释期间通过共同的朋友认识了另一名14岁的女孩。在网上与女孩聊天后，他于2022年8月12日邀请她到他家。

他告诉她还有两个朋友在，她才同意。她到后，他让那两个朋友离开，关上卧室门，告诉女孩他要惩罚她迟到。

那名年轻男子按住她的肩膀，把她按在床上，并对她进行猥亵。随后，他暴露了自己的身体，并试图强迫她为他进行性行为。

她拒绝后，他抓住她的头，试图强迫她进行这种行为。他还抓住她的手，强迫她触摸他的生殖器。

法庭获悉，当这名青年继续反抗他的强迫行为时，他变得愤怒，最终让她离开他的家。

2022 年 8 月 23 日，女孩将自己遭受的袭击告诉了她的叔叔。当时 29 岁的叔叔拿到了施暴者的电话号码，并给他发短信说想和他见面。

犯罪嫌疑人决定拉拢四个朋友去和女孩的叔叔对峙。会面当天，犯罪嫌疑人带着指节铜套和卡拉姆刀去了叔叔的公寓。

一行人到达后，年轻男子看到女孩的叔叔独自一人坐在组屋楼下的空地上，便上前质问他。他用卡拉姆刀指着老人，威胁要弄瞎他的眼睛。

在老人解释说他只是想和罪犯谈谈他侄女的事情之后，年轻人就把刀留下了。

随后，他戴着指节铜套袭击了那名老人，多次击打他的脸部和胸部。老人倒地后，他又继续击打老人的腹部，直到他的朋友们将他拉开。

女孩的叔叔在医院接受了治疗，经检查发现他因袭击而面部和肘部挫伤。

在袭击女孩的叔叔几天后，这名青年在北角购物中心的残疾人厕所袭击了他的下一个受害者，一名他在 Instagram 上结识的 13 岁女孩。

2022年8月27日，他在厕所里未经女孩同意，抓住她的脸并强吻了她的嘴唇。他还对她进行了性骚扰。

2022 年 12 月 20 日，他在裕廊坊的残疾人厕所袭击了他的下一个受害者，此人也是他在网上认识的。

这名青年哄骗这名14岁女孩和他一起进厕所，以便他吸电子烟。进厕所后，他强吻并性侵了她。

她推开他，但他继续对她动手动脚，并暴露了自己的下体。然后他强迫她把手放在他的生殖器上，并告诉她，在他满足之前她不许离开。

当她继续反抗时，他拽着她的头发，把她的头撞向墙壁。

她最终设法逃脱，并于 2022 年 12 月 22 日向警方报案。

法庭获悉，这名青年在犯罪时与街头帮派有关联。

2022 年 8 月 18 日，他与另外五人殴打了一名 14 岁男孩，起因是他的一名团伙成员声称对这名少年不满。

该团伙将受害者带到宏茂桥的一个多层停车场，将其殴打至昏迷，直到听到警察赶到才离开。

受害者被送往医院，经检查发现其面部和头皮有轻微瘀伤和擦伤。

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