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SINGAPORE: A 16-year-old youth who committed sexual offences against six underage girls in separate instances was ordered to undergo reformative training for at least six months on Thursday (July 4).
Young offenders sent for reformative training are detained in a centre to observe a strict regimen that can include foot drills and counselling.
The teenager was just 13 years old when he targeted his first victim, a 13-year-old girl, in March 2021.
He went on to target five more victims until late 2022.
The six girls were between 12 and 14 years old when he committed his offences.
On April 1, the offender pleaded guilty to eight charges for offences that included molestation and statutory rape.
Seventeen other charges were considered during sentencing.
He cannot be named as he is below 18 and protected under the Children and Young Persons Act.
The offender met his first victim on March 28, 2021, through a mutual friend, and they agreed to enter into a relationship.
The next day, the pair went to a staircase at the block of flats where the girl lived and had sex.
The couple later broke up.
The offender met the second victim, who was then 12 years old, when they were hospitalised at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital in July 2021.
He had problems with his legs at the time, while she had respiratory issues.
He befriended the girl and they exchanged their social media details.
The second victim was watching a show on her mobile phone in hospital on July 9, 2021, when the offender went to her bed and kissed her left cheek without her consent.
She told a nurse about the incident the next day, but the offender had already been discharged by then.
He met his third victim, then 13, on Jan 16, 2022, through social media.
They began chatting and agreed to meet at Lot One Shoppers’ Mall in Choa Chu Kang three days later.
After spending some time together on Jan 19, 2022, he asked her to be his girlfriend, and she agreed.
The offender then started touching the girl’s body in public without her consent, prompting her to break up with him that very day.
He met his fourth victim, who was 14 at the time, near Marsiling in April 2022 while she was hanging out with her friends after school.
She also became his girlfriend and went to his home some time between April and May 2022. The offender then sexually penetrated her three times during the same visit.
He was in school in April 2022 when he met his fifth victim, then 13.
Some time in June that year, the pair went to the staircase landing of a block of flats and had sex.
Four months later, the offender got to know the sixth victim through social media and she later agreed to be his girlfriend.
They met at Lot One Shoppers’ Mall about one to two weeks later and he asked the girl, who was then 13, if she wanted to have sex with him.
She agreed and they later had sex at a staircase landing at the block of flats where she lived.
Court documents did not disclose how the youth’s offences came to light.
He was charged in court in 2024. - The Straits Times/ANN
