After a 15-year-old girl turned to sex work to support herself and her new baby, Lee Lai Soon, a 31-year-old private hire driver, solicited her services through an agent on Telegram.
He picked her up and paid her S$550 for sexual intercourse. He did not verify her age and assumed she was 18.
The police arrested him in May this year, and on Monday (9 Oct), the judge sentenced him to nine weeks’ jail.
According to 8world News, the 15-year-old girl turned to prostitution in 2022 in order to support herself and her newborn.
She founds clients through an unidentified intermediary agent. The agent was the one who recommended her to perform sex work, reported Channel NewsAsia (CNA).
The agent told her that clients would pay S$500 for full sexual services. He would then take a cut of S$100 unless she had sex with him.
Sometime before Aug 2022, 31-year-old Lee Lai Soon joined a Telegram chat group. There, he saw an advertisement for ‘xiao meimei’ or ‘xmm’ sexual services.
Source: Viralyft on Pexels, for illustration purposes only
Through the agent, he secured a booking with the girl in Sep 2022.
On the scheduled day, he picked the girl up in his car and paid her S$250, as quoted by the agent. He drove her back to his house, where he requested sexual intercourse, which cost extra.
He then had sex with the 15-year-old girl without asking or verifying for her age. Afterwards, he drove her to a nearby ATM and paid her the additional S$300, for a total of S$550, before dropping her off at the original pick-up location.
In May 2023, police officers raided Lee’s house and arrested him for investigations into remote communication for sex.
In court, the unrepresented Lee pleaded guilty to one count of commercial sex with a minor. He explained that he assumed she was 18, especially because she told him she had a baby to care for.
Lee also assumed that because the advertisement was for ‘xiao mei mei’, he thought the girl was around 18 years old.
He admitted his mistake in not checking her age prior to engaging in the paid sexual intercourse.
The judge thus sentenced him to nine weeks in jail today (9 Oct). The judge also granted Lee a week’s deferment on his sentence to settle work matters.
Earlier this month, a man who sexually assaulted a six-year-old girl was caught eight years later after a repeat offence.
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