Youth sexually violated 13-year-old girl during ‘bondage photoshoot’, gets reformative training

• Alaric Lim Qixian, now 21, met a 13-year-old girl at a cosplay event 
• She expressed her interest in taking part in a private photoshoot involving “bondages and stuff”
• He committed indecent acts on her in a mall toilet
• He also handcuffed and blindfolded her as part of the proposed photoshoot

SINGAPORE — They got to know each other at a cosplay event and she agreed to try out a private photoshoot involving bondage, but instead he touched the underaged girl inappropriately in a toilet at Plaza Singapura mall.

Alaric Lim Qixian, who was a full-time national serviceman aged 19 at the time, had blindfolded the 13-year-old and handcuffed her hands behind her back. He then violated her for about 15 minutes.

On Thursday (Jan 28), Lim, now 21, was sentenced to a minimum of six months’ reformative training — a regimented rehabilitation programme for offenders under 21 who commit relatively serious crimes.

Aside from his offence against the girl, he had taken upskirt videos of two unknown women at Bukit Panjang MRT Station in 2018.

He pleaded guilty to one charge of committing an indecent act with a child under the Children and Young Persons Act, as well as two counts of insulting a woman’s modesty.

The court heard that Lim and the girl, who cannot be named due to a court order to protect her identity, became acquainted in March 2019. They exchanged details and began chatting over Instagram.

He claimed that he was a photographer and offered to conduct a private photoshoot for her, sending her a few examples of what he described as “risky” pictures — those of women wearing minimal clothing.

The girl refused but said that she was interested in taking part in a private photoshoot involving “bondages and stuff”, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Joshua Phang told the court.

Lim then offered to let her try a “BDSM (bondage, domination, submission and sadomasochism) photoshoot”. She agreed but clarified that she did not want to pose fully naked.

He proposed several props such as a bikini and handcuffs, before suggesting they have a test run at a toilet in a relatively isolated area.

They also “engaged in overtly sexual conversation” such as discussing her virginity, DPP Phang said.

On May 22, 2019, they met at Plaza Singapura in the Orchard Road shopping belt and went to a toilet for the handicapped.

After entering the toilet, they first spent about 15 minutes playing the mobile phone game Mobile Legends. Lim then blindfolded and handcuffed her before touching her abdomen over her school attire.

He soon molested her, withdrawing his hands when she told him to stop, but he resumed violating her. She squirmed and told him to stop, but did not shout for help out of fear that he would harm her further.

When he stopped touching her, he removed the blindfold, handcuffs and rope from her body and asked if she was okay. She simply nodded, left the mall and took a bus home.

She took a shower immediately and told her mother what had happened. They then made a police report the next day.

MODERATE TO HIGH RISK OF REOFFENDING

Lim’s lawyers, Ms Lolita Andrew and Mr Richard Lim, tried to extend the court order to cover Lim’s name as he and the girl shared a common pool of friends.

DPP Phang objected, saying it was unlikely that her identity would be revealed if he was publicly named, as the cosplay community is large.

District Judge Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz agreed and also rejected the defence’s submissions for probation, which would allow Lim to continue with his education or employment while serving his sentence.

His offences were serious and he had been assessed to have a moderate to high risk of sexual reoffending, the judge noted.

In particular, she said it was worrying that he continued to downplay his responsibility for sexually exploiting the girl. At the very least, it showed a lack of insight into his offence and at the most, a lack of candour on his part, the judge added.

Lim will begin serving his sentence on March 1 and remains out on S$15,000 bail.