A FULL-TIME national serviceman who had sex with a 15-year-old girl he came to know on the Internet-MSN chat was fined $7,000 on Monday.

Chen Wei Jian, 22, who pleaded guilty, got to know the girl while surfing the Internet May last year.

They eventually became friends and exchanged phone numbers.

About two weeks later, she sent a short message service (SMS) to him. They then spoke on the phone and exchanged information.

Later that month, Chen invited the girl to his home at Sengkang and had sex with her. In return, he paid her $850 as requested.

On May 21, during a quarrel with her steady boyfriend, the victim said she was seeing Chen, and that he had raped her.

The boyfriend told her mother. He also called Chen down.

The boyfriend then detained Chen and reported him to the police.

A second similar charge of having sex with the victim in mid-May was taken into consideration.

Chen could have been jailed for up to five years and fined up to $10,000 for having sex with an underaged girl.