Jail for man who paid 17-year-old boy for sex act after first meeting him at school event

SINGAPORE — A friendly exchange between an alumnus and a student volunteer quickly became a predatory pursuit after Chen Yiyuan returned to his former secondary school to participate in a Chinese New Year event in 2018. 

What started as normal conversations slowly turned into those of a sexual nature that eventually led to the 32-year-old Singaporean male offering to pay the minor S$200 in exchange for the opportunity to "pleasure" the boy.

Chen, a Singaporean, pleaded guilty on Tuesday (May 16) to a charge of obtaining sexual services from a minor under 18 years of age and was sentenced to six weeks' jail. 

Due to a court order, the victim's name and the location of Chen's residence has been omitted to protect his identity.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Court documents prepared by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Tay Jia En stated that Chen and the victim first met during the Chinese New Year period of 2018 when the victim was in Secondary One.

The two kept in touch between 2018 and early 2022 through WhatsApp and Instagram, where they left occasional comments on each other's Instagram posts. It was not stated if earlier WhatsApp conversations had any inappropriate content.

They also met in person a few times.

During one such meeting, the two took a two-hour fishing trip where Chen started to develop "good feelings" and felt emotionally attracted to the victim.

It was in 2022 when Chen moved conversations with the then 17-year-old from WhatsApp and Instagram to Telegram, which allows users to delete chat history for all chat participants. Chen used this function to habitually delete messages in their conversation.

In the early morning hours of March 8, 2022, Chen had messaged the victim over Telegram where he asked whether the victim was open to "experiment sexually" with him. Chen had also offered to pay the victim money.

The messages between the two showed Chen consistently steering the conversation towards one of a sexual nature.

He tried to convince the victim to agree to his suggestions by saying things like you do not "need to be gay to try stuff". He would also tell the victim that he was "so innocent" and "honestly attractive".

It was in this conversation that Chen proposed to "fund" the victim in exchange for the ability to perform a sexual act on him. 

The victim did a screen record of exchange though it was not stated why he did so. 

They eventually made plans to meet on March 12, 2022.

Chen took the minor to his residence at about 3.40am where after some kissing and touching, Chen proceeded to engage in a sexual act with him.

The entire incident lasted about 15 minutes with Chen giving the victim S$200 after.

A police report was made against Chen the next day by the victim who told investigators that the incident had made him feel "filthy".

The victim also submitted the screen recording of conversations he had with Chen on Telegram but this only represented a limited portion of the conversation, stated DPP Tay.

Chen told investigators that he thought that this was an "exchange of benefits for both parties" where the victim would be able to use the money to buy things that he wanted and he would be able to use the opportunity to try homosexual acts on the victim, whom he found sexually attractive.

Seeking a sentence of not more than five weeks, defence lawyer Tanaya Kinjavdekar from Trident Law Corporation urged District Judge Shawn Ho to consider a lighter sentence as Chen has realised the "gravity of his errors" from this incident. 

She also stressed that Chen has since gone on a "rehabilitative journey" and is seeking help to work through some of his mental struggles.

In delivering his sentence, the judge told the court that he accepts that this is not a typical case of commercial sex but the sentence ought to be higher for a crime of this nature.

For obtaining sexual services from a minor under 18 years of age, Chen could have been jailed up to seven years or fined, or both.