SINGAPORE: A youth was around 17 years old in 2023 when he raped two girls, who were then 13 and 14 years old, in separate incidents.
The police were alerted after each offence and he gave statements to the authorities on two occasions, once in October 2023 and again in December that year.
He was not arrested, and he re-offended after he turned 18 in 2024. This time, he sexually penetrated a third victim, who was then 14, in June that year.
On Monday (Sept 14), the recalcitrant offender, who is now 20, was sentenced to nine years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane.
He had pleaded guilty to one count of rape and two counts of sexually penetrating a minor.
Two other charges – one count each of rape and sexually penetrating a minor – were considered during his sentencing.
Details about him and the three victims cannot be disclosed owing to a gag order.
Deputy public prosecutors Hidayat Amir and Phoebe Tan stated in court documents that the offender met the first victim, who was then 13, through social media platform TikTok on or around Sept 9, 2023.
He initiated a conversation with her and the chats turned sexual soon after.
On Sept 12 that year, the girl took the offender to her home when no one else was around, and the pair had sexual intercourse.
The girl then realised that he was not wearing any protection and told him to stop.
Her request fell on deaf ears, and he stopped only after he thought that he heard some noises outside.
His offence came to light the following month when the victim’s aunt checked the girl’s phone.
The woman then found a conversation between her niece and another male contact.
Details about the conversation were not disclosed in court documents, but the girl later admitted to her parents that she had had unprotected sexual intercourse with the offender.
She made a police report on Oct 31, 2023, and the youth gave a statement to an officer later that day.
The prosecutors said he met the second victim, who was then 14, during a gathering on or around Dec 5 that year.
She agreed to be his girlfriend on Dec 7, 2023, and they went to a staircase landing of a block of flats the next day, where he sexually penetrated and raped her.
The second victim’s father checked his daughter’s mobile phone on Dec 8, 2023, and saw the messages she had exchanged with the offender.
The police were alerted the next day and the offender gave another statement to the authorities soon after.
Court documents stated that the third victim, who was 14, and the offender’s sister were close friends.
In May 2024, the third victim added him on social media platform Instagram, and they started chatting.
The pair met at a staircase landing of a multi-storey carpark on June 26 that year, and he had sexual intercourse with her.
The prosecution said that he did so with her consent.
However, she made a police report against him on June 29, 2024, and officers arrested him later that day.
In their annual physical crime statistics released in February, the police said the number of rapes had increased from 401 cases in 2024 to 479 in 2025. That works out to more than one rape a day in each of those years.
There were also more sexual assault cases involving victims under the age of 16 in 2025.
The figure rose from 943 cases in 2024 to 1,031 cases in 2025. There were 998 cases in 2023.
Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs Sim Ann said that the Ministry of Home Affairs has strengthened laws over the years to protect victims.
Such measures include introducing offences targeting molestation and voyeurism, intimate image abuse, child abuse materials and other forms of sexual offending. - The Straits Times/ANN
