SINGAPORE, Aug 7 — The young boy did not think twice about staying over at his classmate’s home after trick-or-treating on Halloween, as he had done so before.

Shortly after going to bed, however, his friend’s father entered the room and performed oral sex twice on the nine-year-old.

The 48-year-old expat, the chief executive officer of a multinational company (MNC) in Singapore, was found guilty yesterday of two counts of sexual assault by penetration of a minor, and another count of aggravated molestation. The incidents had occurred in October 2015.

Justice See Kee Oon said that the victim had no reason to fabricate evidence against the father of three sons, whose company he had previously enjoyed and thought of as "nice, funny (and) trustworthy”.

"The accused’s defence was one of denial, premised on afterthoughts and conjecture. His efforts to undermine (the victim’s) credibility were strained,” added the judge.

The man’s lawyer, Mr Selva Kumara Naidu, told the court that his client intends to appeal against the conviction. His bail of S$60,000 (RM179,100) was revoked, and he is expected to be sentenced on Friday.

Separately, last week, the man — a foreign national who cannot be named to protect his victims’ identity — was slapped with five new charges of sexually abusing another eight-year-old boy in 2011.

These offences were allegedly committed at the man’s home between April and May that year. He is accused of trying to perform oral sex on the boy, molesting him, and showing the boy a pornographic video.

What happened in 2015

During the 13-day trial, which concluded in April, the court heard that the victim and some other friends were invited by the man and his wife to a Halloween trick-or-treat party at their home on Oct 31, 2015.

The boy went to sleep in the upper deck of his friend’s bunk bed, while his friend — the man’s youngest son — was in the lower bunk.

The boy testified that the man entered the room, stood on the lower deck of the bed and touched his private parts.

When asked why he did not object to the molestation, the boy said he feared the man might hurt him if he did, or if he knew he was pretending to be asleep.

The man then left the room, but returned shortly after to perform oral sex on the boy twice.

Earlier, the boy testified that the man told him during a previous sleepover not to wear his underwear before going to sleep, so as to allow his body to breathe.

After the incident, the boy packed his belongings and informed the man that he wanted to go home as he felt unwell.

The boy’s father came to pick him up, but after finding out what happened to his son, he drove back and confronted the man.

An argument broke out between both men, and the boy’s father lodged a police report two days after the incident.

In his defence, the man claimed the boy could have been hallucinating due to the "scary” Halloween atmosphere and the candy he had consumed.

He also claimed that his back injury made him physically incapable of stepping on the lower bunk.

However, his victim gave evidence of the man "running around” and playing with Nerf guns with him and the other boys during their sleepovers in 2015.

The man’s orthopaedic surgeon also testified that while he may have experienced pain or discomfort, he would have been able to stand on the lower bunk bed.

Yesterday, in arguing for bail to be revoked, Deputy Public Prosecutor Christina Koh said that the man’s wife and three sons have moved back to their home country.

This would make him a "substantial flight risk”, which Justice See agreed to.

For each charge of aggravated sexual assault by penetration, the man could be jailed between eight and 20 years, and given at least 12 strokes of the cane. — TODAY