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Man jailed 1.5 years for sexually exploiting 11-year-old girl at staircase landings

SINGAPORE — A 24-year-old man was sentenced to one-and-a-half years’ jail on Monday (June 7) for sexual offences against an underage girl half his age.

Adrian Choo Yi Cong was aged 22 when he got to know the primary school student, then aged 11, through a mutual friend.

Adrian Choo Yi Cong was aged 22 when he got to know the primary school student, then aged 11, through a mutual friend.

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SINGAPORE — A 24-year-old man was sentenced to one-and-a-half years’ jail on Monday (June 7) for sexual offences against an underage girl half his age.

Adrian Choo Yi Cong was aged 22 when he got to know the primary school student, then aged 11, through a mutual friend around July 2019. He asked her to be his girlfriend a few months later, in early November that year, and she agreed.

Choo pleaded guilty in a district court to two counts of committing an indecent act with a child, under the Children and Young Persons Act. Four other unrelated charges, including theft and rioting, were taken into consideration for sentencing.

The girl cannot be named due to a court order to protect her identity.

On Nov 13, 2019, the girl and her friend met Choo at a building along Fernvale Road in Sengkang after school was over for the day. The exact location was redacted from court documents.

He took the pair to a rooftop garden before asking the victim to follow him to a staircase landing. There, he started hugging her and kissing her on the lips, then progressed to more explicit acts.

She told him to stop but he continued doing this for a few minutes. Afterwards, they went back downstairs to hang out with other friends till the next morning.

At that point, Choo took her to the nearby Jalan Kayu area. Again, at a staircase landing, he touched her inappropriately even after she told him to stop.

On Dec 2, the girl’s uncle and aunt asked her whether Choo had done anything to her. It is unclear what prompted this, but the girl then told them about the earlier incidents.

That evening, her uncle approached some police officers patrolling the vicinity of Fernvale Road and told them about a suspected case of sexual exploitation of a child.

Deputy Public Prosecutor James Chew asked for at least 22 months’ jail, but District Judge Tan Jen Tse took into account Choo’s young age and lack of prior convictions in sentencing him.

Choo, who was represented by Ms Jocinda Wong from East Asia Law Corporation, also attempted to speak to the judge, saying he hoped for a lower sentence as he has family to support.

District Judge Tan told him to speak through his lawyer and that he had already been sentenced.

His jail term was backdated to his date of remand on Dec 18 last year.

For sexual exploitation of a child, he could have been jailed for up to seven years or fined up to S$10,000, or both.

Related topics

court crime underage sex sexual crime indecent act

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