Sometimes, 2 people may agree to enter a ‘friends with benefits’ arrangement with one another.
However, this becomes a problem – and a crime – when one of them is underaged.
Such is the case of a man who asked a 13-year-old girl to be ‘friends with benefits’ with him back in Oct 2017.
The pair were sexually involved for over a year before the girl made a police report.
On Monday (12 Apr), the court heard his case and sentenced him to 34 months’ jail.
In 2017, the then 21-year-old man got to know the young girl via a chat application.
Source
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), their conversations were of a sexual nature since the very beginning, even though he had full knowledge that she was a 13-year-old.
The man would ask the victim to send revealing photos of herself and would also send her photos and videos of himself.
Later on, the man asked for them to be ‘friends with benefits’ — an arrangement where 2 individuals who aren’t in a relationship engage in sexual activities.
The girl agreed on the condition that she was being paid for sex.
Within that month, the man met the girl and they engaged in sexual activities at a handicap toilet of a shopping mall in Tampines.
Following that, the pair had a rendezvous almost every month from Oct 2017 to Feb 2019, engaging in similar activities each time.
Each time they met up, the man will pay the girl between $30 to $50, reported CNA.
When they went to hotels, the man pretended that the victim was his sister so she didn’t have to present her identity card to hotel staff.
Sometimes, the man also filmed their activities.
Once, he sent a photo of the girl – without revealing her face – to another person, hoping to organise a threesome. But this didn’t come to fruition for unspecified reasons.
Throughout their arrangement, the man often asked the girl to delete their messages, citing the need for them to be cautious.
On 12 Mar 2019, the girl made a police report, alleging that she had sexual relations with a few men.
According to CNA, the man was then charged after police investigations.
He pleaded guilty to 3 counts of sexual penetration of a minor and another count of possessing obscene films. The court also took 7 other charges into consideration.
On Monday (12 Apr), the 24-year-old was sentenced to 2 years and 10 months’ jail.
According to Singapore’s penal code, an underaged person cannot legally consent to sex.
Sexual penetration of a minor is an offence regardless of whether the victim had given consent.
Hopefully, this case would serve as a reminder to those who wish to engage with minors, to think twice before putting their thoughts into action.
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Featured image adapted from Google Maps.
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