SINGAPORE — Three months after he was put on probation for having sex with a 14-year-old girl, which led her to conceive a premature baby, he went and did it again.

He met up with her, had unprotected sex, and she got pregnant a second time barely a year after she gave birth.

On Tuesday (March 13), the 21-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identities of the girl and children, was handed a reformative training sentence by the same judge who, in 2016, sentenced him to probation.

Addressing the man on Tuesday, District Judge Mathew Joseph said: “I told you (two years ago) that I will give you a chance. Sadly, you have disappointed me, and other people, including your families.

“This is one of the rare cases…where the accused person has gone on to repeat the very same offence with the same girl, having the same result.

“It pains this court to sentence you again, when I gave you a chance before.”

Court documents showed that the couple started a romantic relationship in August 2014.

Some time in late January 2015, they had sex on more than one occasion. Around April or May that year, the girl, who was a Secondary 1 student then, told him that she was pregnant, and they kept the news to themselves.

In August, the girl gave birth to a baby boy in the toilet at her home. The young man put the baby — who was born prematurely at 31 weeks — in an SG50 souvenir bag (from Singapore’s Golden Jubilee anniversary), and left it outside his home, hoping that his parents would find the baby and raise him.

The couple later confessed to his parents that the baby is theirs, and a police report was made.

The man admitted to the offence of sex with a minor in January 2016 and was placed on probation the following month.

Then, three months after that, he met the girl, who was then 15, and had sex with her at the staircase landing of her housing block.

On Dec 6, 2016, the girl felt sharp abdominal pains and told her mother that she was pregnant. She went to the hospital and gave birth to a baby boy prematurely. A police report was made.

The man, who was due to enlist into National Service, admitted to the second round of the same offence — committed while on probation — in October last year.

The court heard that, with financial support from the man, the girl’s parents have become caregivers to the two children.

On Tuesday, District Judge Joseph agreed with the prosecution’s call for reformative training, as it carried both elements of rehabilitation and deterrence.

He disagreed with defence lawyer Sadhana Rai's proposal for a jail sentence and told the accused: “I did not think it would be appropriate to take the convenient option to send you off… to the harsh environment of the prison. You should not look at the short-term gain of a prison sentence.”

Reformative training would build the youth’s “discipline and character”, he added. “I would be remiss in my duty if I were to sentence you otherwise.”

District Judge Joseph was also “mindful of the families involved… not least the two young children that have come out (as a result)”.

“The family unit is no longer intact… you had a part to play in this dysfunctional situation,” he said.

Dressed in a grey T-shirt, the man, who was in court with his cousin, declined to address the court when asked by the judge. Later, he hung his head in silence as the sentence was passed.

A 13-month jail sentence for breaching his probation order will run concurrent to the reformative training sentence.