Eight men in court over sex with teen
One pleads guilty to sex with a minor and gets a year in jail; he
got to know 14-year-old on Internet relay chat and met her later
for sex
By Elena Chong
EIGHT men appeared in court yesterday - all for having separately
had sex with the same underage girl last year.
THE OTHER SEVEN MEN
YESTERDAY, the cases of the seven other men were adjourned for
their lawyers to make representations to the Attorney-General's
Chambers.
The seven accused are Yeo Kai Kee, 22, who is also accused of
stealing $150 from the girl, Lim Wai Keat, 33, Zhou Jing Xiang, 18,
Lee Hwee Kang, 23, each of whom faces charges of twice having had
sex with the girl; Ho Kok Leon, 29, Goh Yeow Kwang, 23, and Li Tze
Kit, 20.
They were released on bail of $6,000 each and will appear in court
again on July 10.
Aged from 18 to 33, they hold various jobs, though some were in
national service or even studying at the time.
All were said to have committed the offences sometime between
January and July last year - at hotels in Joo Chiat and Geylang, a
park, and Housing Board staircase landings.
In the end, only one, salesman Robin Heng Koon Huat, 24, pleaded
guilty.
He said he had come to know the 14-year-old girl through an
Internet relay chat channel and admitted to twice having had sex
with her at a Bedok park early last year.
He was sentenced to 12 months' jail and a $6,000 fine on each of
the two charges under the Women's Charter. The jail sentences are
to run concurrently.
A third charge of having sex with her at his home was taken into
consideration.
The cases involving the other accused men, whose lawyers were
present in Court 26, were adjourned to another day.
A day after Heng got to know the girl, now 16, over the Internet in
January last year, he called her on her mobile phone.
Heng, who knew that she was under 16 and a student, met her that
evening at the Bedok Reservoir Park.
They went to a hut there and had consensual sex. Sometime between
January and February last year, they met again at the same place
and had sex.
The girl made a police report on Aug 26 stating that she had had
sex with 'multiple' partners.
In passing sentence, district judge Wong Keen Onn said: 'The High
Court has clearly pointed out that public interest warrants a
deterrent sentence to protect members of the public against those
like-minded men who seek the medium of Internet to meet young and
immature girls and sexually exploit them.'
The maximum penalty for having sex with a girl under 16 is five
years in jail and a $10,000 fine.
