SINGAPORE — Pointing out that a child is “by definition immature”, whose actions and thinking processes should not be held to the measure of an adult, a High Court judge on Tuesday (Feb 20) convicted a skipping rope coach on two counts of statutory rape and five counts of sexual penetration of a minor.

Roger Yue Jr, now 59, faced 48 charges of various sexual offences committed between 2008 and 2010, against the same teenage girl, who was 13 then. The victim, who is now 22, cannot be named due to a court order to protect her identity.

Yue claimed trial to seven of the charges, with the other 41 charges stood down.

Over a seven-day hearing which started on Nov 21 last year, the court was told that the victim had lodged a police report only on April 28, 2014, almost five years after the sexual offences – when the girl was 13 – ended.

Delivering his oral remarks on the judgement, Justice Aedit Abdullah said: “The fact that the victim did not report the incidents to anyone in authority till about five years later, and only to her boyfriend and cousin along the way, gave some pause.”

Yue and the teenager were acquainted with each other in 2005, after he become the coach of her primary school’s skipping rope team. Yue later invited the girl to join his competitive skipping rope team, and enlisted her help to coach other skipping rope teams from several schools.

The string of sexual offences took place over a span of two years, from late 2008 to the end of 2010, at various locations, including his Tampines home, his now-defunct studio, and at a secondary school.

The sexual assault stopped only when the teenager distanced herself from Yue and finally stopped associating with him. But it was not till some time later that she confided in her polytechnic lecturer and counsellor about the incidents, and subsequently lodged a police report in 2014.

Addressing the teenager’s late disclosure of the incidents, Justice Aedit said: “I accept that victims of sexual assault or abuse may not behave in a stereotypical way.”

While many would report these incidents early — which “give strong support to the case against an accused person” — a victim who reports a long time after the incident “does not necessarily suffer from reduced credibility, though such an omission robs the victim of the strength of support that is to be obtained from early reporting”, he added.

The omission, in the absence of other evidence, may make it difficult to establish a case “beyond reasonable doubt”, the judge also said.

Noting that the teenager’s continuation of the training sessions, despite the sexual assaults, might seem “odd”, the High Court judge reminded the court that a juvenile could not be expected to always react in a similar way as an average adult would, which would be to report the assault as soon as possible.

Given that “a child is by definition immature”, he said the child, therefore, should not “be held to the measure of an adult”.

“The thinking process, assumptions and viewpoint of a juvenile victim may lead to a course of action that may appear unreasonable or improbable,” Justice Aedit said.

“The fact that the victim did not complain and continued with contact with (Yue) did not rob her of credibility; it is entirely believable that the victim would have been focussed on her continued participation in the skip rope team, and would not have known any better about what to do,” he added.

Yue, who is out on bail of S$70,000, returns to court next month for sentencing.

For rape or sexual penetration of a minor under 16, Yue faces up to 20 years’ jail on each charge. As he is above 50, he cannot be caned.