SINGAPORE, Nov 26 — The High Court has ordered 15 years of preventive detention for Terence Thaver, a 60-year-old repeat sex offender who has spent nearly one-third of his adult life behind bars.

The Straits Times reported this marks his fourth conviction for preying on children.

Thaver was found guilty of molesting an eight-year-old boy in September 2023, less than three years after his release from prison in March 2021.

He befriended the child over a game of chess before committing the offence.

He also admitted to two charges of unnatural sex involving a nine-year-old boy in 2007.

Justice Valerie Thean ruled that preventive detention was necessary to protect the public, citing Thaver’s high risk of reoffending despite prior sentences and psychiatric treatment.

Under preventive detention, offenders can be incarcerated for up to 20 years without automatic remission, though they may be released on licence after serving two-thirds or five-sixths of their sentence.

The prosecution had sought at least 18 years of detention, while the defence argued for nine to 11 years.

In her judgment, Justice Thean noted that Thaver had remained crime-free for only 30 months after his last release, calling this “a cause for concern.”

Thaver’s criminal history spans decades. As a primary school teacher in 1999 and 2000, he molested four 10-year-old girls, earning eight years’ jail and 24 strokes of the cane.

In 2008, he hugged and kissed another eight-year-old boy at a neighbourhood outreach centre, leading to a one-year jail term in 2010.

He was later sentenced to 13 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane in 2014 for sexual offences against a boy aged 10 to 11.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Andre Chong highlighted Thaver’s tendency to “externalise blame” and seek unsupervised contact with children.

His lawyer, Public Defender Edwin Ho, argued that the 2023 incident was a “fleeting touch” and less serious than his earlier offences, though he acknowledged his client must be punished.

Thaver has been in remand since his arrest in September 2023.