A YOUTH who has been placed on probation before for molestation
was sentenced to reformative training on Tuesday for a similar
offence.
The 19-year-old, diagnosed to be suffering from paedophilia, had
earlier admitted to holding the hand and touching the chest and
private parts of a nine-year-old girl at a religious organisation
on Jan 18 last year.
The court heard that the accused saw the victim near the
bookshop in the building and asked for her age. When the victim
went into a room, he followed her and committed the offence.
The victim told her mother who confronted the accused. The youth
admitted what he had done and pleaded with the girl's mother not to
call the police.
Two days later, a rehabilitation officer from Ministry of
Community Development, Youth and Sports took him to the police to
surrender himself.
The accused had committed the current offence five weeks after
completing his two-year probation for molesting girls.
He could have been jailed for up to five years or fined or caned
or received any combined sentence.
--ST
