Sex with underage girl: Ex-prosecutor jailed 4 months

SINGAPORE — A lawyer was yesterday sentenced to four months in jail for paying a Vietnamese underage escort for sex.

But immediately after the jail term was handed down, Spencer Gwee Hak Theng instructed his lawyer to appeal against both the conviction and sentence.

The 60-year-old had been convicted last week of paying a 16-year-old escort S$300 for sexual services in July 2011.

Under the law, it is an offence to have commercial sex with someone under 18 years of age.

Gwee, a former prosecutor, had contested the charge in February. His line of defence during the trial was that he did not know the girl, did not have sex or pay her.

However, District Judge Toh Yung Cheong found the minor to be a credible witness who gave evidence with few inconsistencies. He also said Gwee was not a credible witness.

In his mitigation plea, defence counsel Subhas Anandan said yesterday that Gwee has had no previous brushes with the law.

The court also heard the contributions of Gwee as a lawyer and former prosecutor.

Mr Anandan also pointed out that the escort had told Gwee she was 19, making her older than she was.

The prosecution, which pressed for a jail term of six months, cited the case of Swiss national Juerg Buergin, who was sentenced to four months and three weeks in jail for similar offences.

Buergin, who had claimed trial against the charges, argued during his appeal against his conviction in the High Court that he was cheated by the pimp and the girl into believing she was not underage.

Justice Choo Had Teck, who dismissed the appeal, rejected the argument, saying that he was “not aware of any known defence in criminal law that a person is not guilty of an offence if he was the victim of some other offence”. Claire Huang