Poly student jailed for sexually assaulting primary school boy he met through Carousell
SINGAPORE — A primary school student had taken to Carousell to look for friends to play with, only to be approached by a stranger almost double his age who later on sexually assaulted him.
SINGAPORE — A primary school student had taken to online marketplace Carousell to look for friends to play with, only to be approached by a stranger almost double his age who later on sexually assaulted him.
On Tuesday (Aug 23), the respondent to that Carousell post, Qusyairi Matin Norhasrin, 22, was sentenced to 16 months’ jail after pleading guilty to one count of sexual assault of a minor.
Three other charges were taken into consideration during the sentencing.
A gag order was issued to protect the identity of the underaged victim.
Court documents showed that the victim, who was 11 at the time, had posted a listing on Carousell looking for friends to play with him sometime in March last year.
Qusyairi, a polytechnic student, responded and they began chatting on the platform, before moving their conversation to messaging application WhatsApp.
During the conversations, both Qusyairi and the victim had told each other of their age.
The pair then met up on March 12 last year and rode bicycles together.
After the meet-up, Qusyairi asked the victim about his sexual orientation. Qusyairi asked if the boy would want to engage in a sex act with him.
The victim agreed, and sometime between March and July last year, the pair met up at Bishan Community Club.
The pair then went to a toilet in the building, where Qusyairi performed a sex act on the victim.
Court documents stated that the victim was uncomfortable with what Qusyairi did but did not push him away.
After that, Qusyairi continued sending the victim message texts on the phone that were sexual in nature. The victim felt uncomfortable and went on to tell his teacher about the incident. The teacher in turn informed the victim’s parents, and a police report was made on July 18 last year.
Defence Counsel Ashwin Ganapathy of IRB Law asked the court to consider ordering for a pre-sentencing probation report, or a jail sentence of 13 to 15 months.
The lawyer said that his client was deeply remorseful and “ashamed” of his actions, and had written a letter of apology intended for the victim.
He also highlighted that Qusyairy was a youthful offender with “excellent propensity” to rehabilitate, having achieved good grades for his Diploma in Sport and Exercise Sciences course at Republic Polytechnic and even receiving a study award by the Singapore Police Force in 2020.
For sexually assaulting a person under the age of 14, Qusyairi could have been jailed up to 20 years, and fined or caned.