SINGAPORE: A repeat offender with a history of sexual offences involving vulnerable victims dating back to 2017 has been sentenced to jail and caning for sex crimes involving three underage girls.
One of the victims, a deaf and mute 12-year-old girl, was warded at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) when he committed statutory rape against her.
Muhamed Khairil Kapalee, 20, was sentenced on Nov 10 to seven years’ jail and six strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to sexually penetrating two of the victims, who were aged 14 and 15 at the time.
He also admitted to a statutory rape charge involving the 12-year-old girl, who has a history of severe global developmental delay and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Seven other charges, including theft, were taken into consideration during sentencing.
Deputy public prosecutors Chong Kee En and Wayde Chan stated in court documents that Khairil had a “deeply problematic history” of engaging in sexual activity with underage girls, many of whom were particularly vulnerable.
In 2020, he was sentenced to probation for serious sexual offences against vulnerable victims committed between 2017 and 2019.
He completed his two-year probation in August 2022 but reoffended the following year.
The prosecutors said that although he had been diagnosed with mild intellectual disability, he was found to have maturity levels consistent with his age at the time of the latest offences.
Khairil was 18 when he first became acquainted with the victim in the latest case through Telegram on Dec 7, 2023.
He began an online relationship with the girl, who was then 14.
On Dec 9, 2023, he had unprotected sex with her near Jalan Besar Stadium after she ran away from home.
When Khairil realised that the girl's mother was tracking her location through her phone, he threw the device down a rubbish chute.
However, her relatives later managed to locate her. They confronted Khairil, and the police were alerted. Officers interviewed him on Dec 21, 2023.
In January 2024, he met the second victim through Telegram.
The victim, who was 15, was living in a home for vulnerable and abused children at the time. Khairil had unprotected sex with her at a carpark later that month.
The home discovered the offence, and he was interviewed by the police again in February 2024.
He met his third victim, the 12-year-old girl, through mutual friends in August 2024.
The following month, she was admitted to KKH for a suspected bacterial infection.
Khairil visited her, and they engaged in sexual activities in a disabled toilet on the hospital's ground floor.
Police arrested Khairil on Sept 25, 2024, and charged him two days later. He has been in remand since then.
The 12-year-old victim was later seen at the Child Guidance Clinic of the Institute of Mental Health in May 2025.
The prosecutors said: “(She) reported feeling sad, scared and angry and disgusted since the incident and experiencing insomnias, nightmares and recurrent thoughts of (it).” - Straits Times/ANN
