SINGAPORE, July 27 — Tricked into thinking that the youth he met on gay dating application Grindr was 17 years old, Malik Erasmus Aslam agreed to pay him S$130 (RM391) for sex.

The man then found himself in trouble when the boy’s father called the police a few days later, saying his son was just 13 years old.

The boy, who is now aged 15, had lied about his real age when Aslam asked him about it on Grindr.

Yesterday, Aslam, 41, a former professional horse-racing jockey, was sentenced to one-and-a-half years’ jail. The Singaporean pleaded guilty on the same day to one count of sexual penetration of a minor and one count of making an obscene film.

Five other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Aslam’s lawyer, Nichol Yeo, said in mitigation that his client — a single father of three children — had no reason to suspect that the boy was a minor.

He noted that they had engaged in paid sex too.

The boy cannot be named due to a court order to protect his identity.

Sniffed ‘poppers’

The court heard that Aslam chanced upon the boy’s profile on Grindr in mid-January last year. He then sent the boy a message, asking for anal sex.

They exchanged a series of messages to discuss the price, and later agreed that Aslam would pay the boy S$130.

When Aslam asked him for his age, he replied that he was 17 years old.

On January 30, 2018 at about 7pm, the boy went over to Aslam’s place, where they had sex in his room.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Gabriel Lim told the court: "Despite the small stature and youthful look of the victim, the accused took no steps to verify the victim’s age upon them meeting for the first time.”

Both of them also sniffed a bottle of "poppers” that Aslam took out — described in court as a relaxant used by gay men to help them relax during sex.

He then paid the boy S$130 in cash.

About a week later, on February 8, they had sex again at Aslam’s home. This time, he recorded a 38-second-long video of the act using his mobile phone, but did not tell the boy he was doing so.

The boy’s father called the police four days later, saying his son had engaged in sexual activities. It was not stated in court documents how the father found out about it.

DPP Lim asked for at least 18 months and three weeks’ imprisonment. He argued that the nature of the sexual offence "presents the greatest degree of exploitation of a minor” and "the onus is on the adult to curb his or her carnality”.

Yeo sought one year's jail for Aslam, pointing out that the boy had listed his age as 18 on his Grindr profile, then told Aslam he was 17. He added that Grindr users have to confirm that they are above 18 years old when registering for an account.

The boy was also "bigger in build than his peers and looked more mature than his actual age”, Yeo said, adding that on the second occasion they had sex, the boy had suggested it and "even gave Aslam a ‘discount’ from the previous price of S$130 to a lower price of S$100”.

The lawyer told the court that Aslam is his family’s sole breadwinner, with an elderly mother to support. He was fired from the Singapore Turf Club after the offences emerged.

For sexual penetration of a minor under 14 years old, he could have been jailed for up to 20 years and fined or caned.

For making an obscene film, he could have been jailed for up to two years, fined up to S$40,000, or both. ― TODAY