Man, 31, on trial for sexual offences against underage girl in 2013 to 2014

SINGAPORE — A 31-year-old man is contesting charges of having sexual intercourse with an underaged girl several years ago, when she was aged 12 to 13.

The Singaporean cannot be named due to a court order to protect her identity. He began standing trial in the State Courts on Tuesday (June 15).

The man and the girl had been family friends when the purported offences allegedly took place between mid-2013 and mid-2014. He was 23 to 24 years old at the time.

The prosecution is proceeding with two charges of sexual penetration of a minor. Two other such charges — one of engaging in sex acts in a hotel — have been stood down for the time being.

Court documents stated that he allegedly had sex with the girl for the first time “sometime between mid-2013 and Oct 20, 2013” in a vehicle at a parking lot along Dairy Farm Road near Upper Bukit Timah.

He then purportedly engaged in another sexual act with her in a vehicle between November 2013 and mid-2014.

On Tuesday, Deputy Public Prosecutors Winston Man and Joseph Gwee called two witnesses to the stand.

Dr Yip Swee Lin, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist from KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, took the court through a medical report she had prepared in January 2019.

This was after seeing the alleged victim on Dec 22, 2018, when she was 18 years old and had just filed a formal police report. The doctor was not questioned on why the girl reported the matter only then.

Based on Dr Yip’s medical report, the girl alleged that she had sexual intercourse with the man “several times”, but could not recall exactly how often or when.

She did not stop him each time and was not physically restrained, the report stated. There were also no drugs or alcohol involved.

Her urine pregnancy test came back negative.

In the report, Dr Yip noted some details that the girl gave about one alleged incident. She had told the doctor that it happened at night at a heavy-vehicle car park in his Mercedes, when she was sitting in the passenger seat.

The girl said that she fell asleep and when she woke up, the accused told her that he had a surprise for her and kissed her.

Later, she told him to stop the sexual act and said that it was painful, but he continued. He then took her home.

After Dr Yip gave evidence, a police photographer took the stand before the trial was adjourned for the morning.

While it was scheduled to go on till Wednesday, one of the man’s lawyers, Mr Jayakumar Naidu, had to take medical leave due to a sore throat. The case will be heard again on July 14.

The man remains out on bail of S$30,000.

If convicted of sexual penetration of a minor, he could be jailed for up to 20 years as well as fined or caned.