Sex with minor: 5th man gets 12 months' jail

Sex with minor: 5th man gets 12 months' jail

The fifth and final man convicted of having sex with a 15-year-old girl was jailed for 12 months last Friday.

Ngo Choon Seng, 30, had admitted to having sex with the 15-year-old girl in his car at the top deck of a multi-storey carpark on Oct 13, 2012.

A second charge of using a vibrator to penetrate her was taken into consideration during his sentencing.

The Secondary 4 student created an account on Blendr, a social networking application, some time in mid-2012 as she wished to make more friends, the court heard.

She began communicating with Ngo, then a 26-year-old executive sales operator, in September that year. She told him she was 15 years old and still studying.

Subsequently, Ngo sent the minor a nude photograph of himself via WhatsApp. He then began talking to her about sex.

She reciprocated. They agreed to meet for sex on the condition that he wore a condom.

On Oct 13 that year, he picked up the minor from her home and drove to a multi-storey carpark where they had sex.

Four others linked to the victim in the present case had received 10 to 15 months' jail for similar charges.

The incidents came to light after a church friend informed the girl's father that sexually explicit photographs of the minor were circulating on the Internet.

Ngo, who recently got married, was diagnosed with a major depressive episode which was of "moderate severity".

But a psychiatrist testified last month that Ngo made a conscious choice to meet the girl.

Ngo's lawyer Jacob Lim had wanted probation for his client, but Deputy Public Prosecutor Goh Yi Ling argued that probation was wholly unsuitable.

"The present offence is one of a grave nature because it involves the sexual penetration of a minor - such offences are of great public interest and cannot be taken lightly because they are integral to the protection of minors in our society," she said.

The maximum penalty is 10 years' jail and a fine.

elena@sph.com.sg

 


This article was first published on June 15, 2015.
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