Man jailed 18 months’ for sex with underage girlfriend

SINGAPORE — His girlfriend, 10 years his junior, was only 14 when she bore their first child. Despite being given a conditional warning for having sex with an underage girl, he committed the same offence within months, and the teenager had to go through a miscarriage on her own because they had split.

On Thursday (Dec 14), the man, who is 28 now and cannot be named due to a gag order, was sentenced to 18 months’ jail for two counts of having sex with a minor under 16. Two similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that the girl, who is 17 and also cannot be named because of a gag order, met the man in December 2014 through mutual friends. She was only in Secondary Two, but decided to enter into a relationship with the man a month after knowing him.

Their first sexual encounter took place in mid-2015, when the girl went to the man’s flat at Senja Road in Bukit Panjang. While they were watching television in the living room, the man suggested they have sex in his bedroom. Another sexual encounter took place within that period.

On Feb 18 last year, she gave birth to a daughter in the toilet of her own home, assisted by her grandmother who had cut the baby’s umbilical cord with a pair of scissors before calling the ambulance.

Court documents stated that neither the man nor the girl knew she was pregnant until she gave birth.

The young mother quit school, found a job, and lived with the man and his parents, who became the baby’s main caregiver.

In May that year, the man was given a 12-month conditional warning for sleeping with an underage girl. That same month, the couple had sex again, and another time the following month.

On June 24, she went for a medical check at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital relating to her first birth. She was told she was pregnant again.

The couple’s relationship began to sour and they broke up soon after. The girl moved back home in July, leaving her baby with the paternal grandparents.

She miscarried the same month.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jesintha Veijayaratnam said the man showed a “reckless disregard” for the girl’s health and safety by impregnating her months after she had delivered her first child.

The man also ignored the conditional warning, she added.

Defence lawyer Sherrie Han pointed out that the offences were not premeditated and “occurred naturally” as the couple were in a serious relationship. The case, she added, did not involve exploitation of any sort.

In meting out the sentence, District Judge Jasvender Kaur noted that even though the girl was from a broken family, she did not have any psychological or emotional problems that made her particularly vulnerable.

Ms Kaur also accepted that the man did not coerce her to participate in the sexual intercourses.