SINGAPORE — Word got out about a youth who sexually assaulted at least 10 underage girls while he was still in secondary school, when several victims banded together to share their personal accounts in a public Twitter thread.

One of his victims, a 17-year-old girl, started the thread, which has since been shut down.

She posted the accused's photo with the caption: “A rapist requested to follow me on Instagram, should I expose what he did to me?”

Other victims approached her and with their permission, she shared their experiences on the thread.

On Thursday (March 17), the accused, now aged 18, was sentenced to at least 12 months of reformative training — a regimented rehabilitation programme for offenders under 21 who commit relatively serious crimes.

Offenders are given a minimum period on the programme, subject to how they respond to the rehabilitation. It is a harsher punishment than probation, which allows young offenders to continue with their education or employment while serving their sentences.

The youth cannot be named due to a court order to protect his victims’ identities.

He pleaded guilty last month to four counts of sexual penetration of a minor. Another 29 other similar charges, including molestation and sexual exploitation of a child or young person, were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Court records showed that some of his charges were reclassified from rape to sexual penetration.

VICTIM OVERDOSED ON ANTIDEPRESSANTS

The court heard that he targeted 10 female minors from July 2017 to February 2020. The victims were aged 12 to 16 at the time, while he was aged between 14 and 16.

He would ask them to visit him at his flat or secluded places near his home and then sexually assault them when they were alone.

One of these girls met him in 2017 when she was 12 years old and he was 14.

They began messaging each other on Instagram and she then developed romantic feelings for him.

In June 2018, he invited her to his flat and took her to a ninth-floor staircase before asking to have sex with her. Thinking he considered her as his girlfriend, she agreed.

It was her first sexual encounter and the pair then began engaging in regular sexual intercourse at his prompting at least once a month.

Another victim met him on Instagram in 2019 when she was 15 and he was about 16.

He suggested that they study together at his flat, where he sexually assaulted her without a condom.

After the victim saw the Twitter thread and made a police report, she went to the child guidance clinic at the Institute of Mental Health where she reported feeling sad, irritable and fearful since the incident.

She suffered from insomnia, appetite loss and suicidal thoughts. She also started hurting herself and overdosing on her antidepressant medication.

The victim reported doing more poorly in her studies and said that she felt ashamed about her body, felt hopeless, lacked motivation and lost interest in activities that she used to enjoy.

She was diagnosed with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

In June 2020, the 17-year-old who had created the Twitter thread posted about the accused because he had asked to “follow” her personal account on Instagram.

Many other victims then reached out to her privately. She asked them for their consent to put their accounts on her Twitter thread for public viewing, and it then gained some traction on social media.

The youth was arrested on June 27, 2020 after the victims filed police reports against him. He has been remanded since.

His lawyer Hashim Siraj had earlier told the court that the youth's mother was incarcerated for a long period of time and was not present during most of his childhood.

His addiction to pornography at a very young age might have led to the desire to commit the offences, the defence counsel added.

Those convicted of sexual penetration of a minor under 14 can be jailed for up to 20 years, as well as fined or caned.

Those convicted of sexual penetration of a minor under 16 can be jailed for up to 10 years or fined, or punished with both.