A paedophile who abused six boys, including his cousin’s sons, over an eight-year period was finally caught after his own mother found him in a compromising position with one of the victims.
The 31-year-old Singaporean, who cannot be named due to gag orders protecting the victims’ identities, was sentenced to 40 years’ jail and the maximum 24 strokes of the cane on Monday (Sep 18).
He pleaded guilty to seven charges including rape and sexual assault. Another 47 charges were considered in sentencing.
The court heard that the unemployed man preyed on boys between 2012 and 2020. This started with boys he met playing football in the neighbourhood, before turning his attention to his underage relatives when he was invited to their homes.
Three of the victims were his cousins’ sons aged between six and nine at the time.
In 2020, the offender’s cousin offered him S$500 a month to help him with his parcel delivery job. To facilitate this arrangement, the cousin invited the offender to stay with his family.
The man preyed on his cousin’s sons, especially the younger boy aged six.
He would distract the boy by handing him a phone to play games on, before molesting him and performing sex acts on him. He also raped the boy repeatedly.
The man would perform sex acts on the boy in front of his stepbrother and get the two boys to carry out sex acts on each other.
In October 2020, the man’s cousin invited him and his mother to stay over.
The offender’s mother slept on a sofa in the living room. The offender shared a mattress on the living room floor with his cousin’s sons.
The next morning, the offender’s mother saw her son lying on top of his cousin’s six-year-old son, in a state of undress.
She confronted her son and informed the victims’ mother, who spoke to her boys and deduced what happened.
By this time, the offender was on his way to Jewel Changi Airport where the victims’ father later confronted him. They then drove to another location where the victims’ family was waiting and a loud confrontation ensued.
A member of the public called the police who were informed about the sex offences.
The prosecution sought a jail term of 40 to 45 years for the offender, along with 24 strokes of the cane. They listed the man’s unrelated past convictions, mostly of theft.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Zu Zhao said this case “ranks among the worst cases of paedophilic sexual abuse” to come before the courts.
He said there was a “clear escalation in the number, variety and severity of his offending”, with the victims being used “as tools or toys to satiate his perverse sexual desires”.
He cited the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) report which assessed that the offender had a paedophilic disorder and presented “a clear danger to society”.
Mr Lee said the man had clearly abused his position and breached the trust placed in him – especially for the two nephews.
Defence lawyer Edmond Lim of Allen & Gledhill, who took on the case under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, asked for 33 years’ jail instead, along with 24 strokes of the cane.
He read out a letter that his client had written in mitigation.
The man asked for leniency, saying he failed his Primary School Leaving Examinations thrice and went to a special school where he claimed his seniors taught him the sex acts.
He also said his parents divorced when he was young and claimed that his stepfather sexually assaulted him when he was seven.
All his family members have cut ties with him, except his mother, said the offender.
“This is a stigma I have to live with for the rest of my life,” he wrote, saying he had “great remorse” and that “if I could turn back time, I would do so”.
He said he wanted to apologise to the victims, but knew it would not help anything.
“I have earned my sin, and I earned it against my own soul,” he said. “I will bring all my sin until my last breath.” He added that a manifestly excessive sentence would devastate his hopes of rehabilitation and asked the court for leniency.
In response, Mr Lee said the IMH report was clear that the man did not suffer from any intellectual disability. The man also did not tell the psychiatrist that he was sexually assaulted by his stepfather when asked to give his background. “He was fully aware of what he was doing, he had full choice,” said Mr Lee.
Also learn about Teacher Allegedly Abused Children at Woodlands Preschool: Immediate Action Taken.
