Former SAF captain and ex-partner imprisoned after filming sex with teen
On Tuesday (20 Oct), former Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) captain Chaw Chia Jun was sentenced to 17 months in prison for sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy.
He also recorded the sexual encounters with the young student for his “personal collection”.
41-year-old Chaw pleaded guilty to the charges of sexual penetration involving a minor and producing child abuse material.
He engaged in the illegal activities alongside Owen Toh Wei Song, who was previously a cook for the Republic of Singapore Navy and Chaw’s partner of two years between 2021 and 2022.
On 22 Sept, Toh was reported to be jailed for 12 months.
Timeline of criminal offences
In April 2024, the teenager was a secondary four student when he saw Toh’s profile on a forum for adult gay men and first made contact with Toh.
The nature of the conversation turned sexual, with the boy expressing interest in exploring sexual activities including bondage and blindfolding.
Source: Towfiqu barbhuiya via Pexels, image for illustration purposes only
Toh claimed that he lacked experience in that area, but proposed a meetup with Chaw, to which the teen agreed.
Toh falsely told the boy that Chaw was 32, when the latter was 39 at the time.
In June 2024, the three of them met up in a multi-storey carpark in Punggol, where Chaw asked the victim to strip.
Toh proceeded to perform a sex act on the teen, which Chaw filmed on his phone.
When Chaw asked the teen to do the same for him, the boy declined. However, the boy agreed to perform a sex act on Toh.
The trio engaged in other sex acts.
A few days later, Chaw sent the recording to Toh at his request.
On 5 June 2024, after keeping in contact, Chaw and the teen met up in a mall and had sex in a handicap toilet cubicle.
Chaw filmed the encounter on his phone.
The boy’s family later grew concerned over his behaviour, noticing that he had been receiving gifts from an unknown man. The sender had been Chaw.
Upon confrontation, the boy eventually admitted to the incidents. He filed an official police report on 23 Oct 2024.
Court rules guilty, Chaw suspended from MINDEF
A report by CNA stated that the prosecutors pursued a jail term of between 17 and 21 and a half months during sentencing.
As the lawyer representing Chaw, Mark Yeo argued for a sentence between 14 and 17 months instead. He emphasised that Toh played a greater role in arranging the initial encounter of the group.
The defence lawyer also reasoned that Chaw was led to believe that the teenager was older than 16, the legal age of consent.
As the judge was about to deliver his sentence, Chaw claimed that the teenager had lied about his age, having used a stranger’s photograph in a Telegram chat.
While District Judge Kenneth Chin accepted the claims, he noted that Chaw did not make a further attempt to verify the boy’s age.
The judge stressed that the law strove to protect minors under 16 from sexual exploitation, regardless of whether they initiated or willingly participated in sexual acts.
Absence of coercion is a neutral factor and is not a mitigating factor.
Yeo stated in court that after serving as a SAF regular for two decades, Chaw had since become employed with a friend’s company in the food and beverage sector.
In a media response, Singapore’s Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) confirmed that after his arrest in 2024, Chaw had been suspended from all duties.
He has since been released from regular service and is no longer with the SAF.
MINDEF continued to assert the strict policies imposed on all members of the force.
The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) holds its service personnel to high standards of discipline and integrity. Service personnel who commit offences will be dealt with in accordance with the law.
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Featured image by MS News.