SINGAPORE, Oct 8 — When he discovered that his girlfriend had slept with another man, Teo Yao Hong went online to chat with a 14-year-old girl because he wanted to “feel a bit better”.
Despite knowing her age, Teo later engaged in sex acts with her and regarded her as his “friend with benefits”, he said.
He was caught when the girl’s parents returned home while he was washing up in a toilet there.
When he emerged naked from the toilet, the girl’s parents called the police and forbade him from getting dressed until they arrived.
Yesterday, the 24-year-old pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual penetration of a minor under 16, with four similar charges taken into consideration during sentencing.
He was jailed for one year and 11 months.
The court heard that Teo, a Singaporean warehouse assistant and private-hire car driver, met his then-girlfriend in April 2019 on messaging application MiChat. She was 14 years old at the time.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Chong Kee En said that Teo claimed to have discovered in October 2019 that his girlfriend had sex with another man. Court documents did not state whether this was true.
Feeling “cheated and disappointed” and wanting to “feel a bit better”, Teo said that he started chatting up another 14-year-old girl on MiChat sometime in June last year.
When the two met for the first time below her flat, on June 28 last year, Teo saw that she was wearing her secondary school uniform.
Despite this, he asked her for sex. She agreed and they engaged in a sex act at a nearby staircase landing.
Two days later, they had sex at her flat while no one else was home.
On Oct 19 last year, they again had sex at her flat.
When he went to the bathroom, the girl’s parents returned home. He hid in the bathroom for about an hour before walking out naked in front of her parents.
The girl’s father slapped Teo across his face after asking him if he knew how old his daughter was.
Her mother then called the police and forbade Teo to wear his clothes until the police arrived.
He was arrested and a pair of underwear was seized.
DPP Chong noted that in Teo’s earlier relationship, although he met his girlfriend when she was 14, they engaged in sex acts only after she turned 16 in May last year.
Teo was sleeping with both girls at the time.
DPP Chong added that there was “some suggestion of predatory behaviour” given that he had gone online to chat up the two girls.
Teo had sex with the 14-year-old “friend with benefit” on at least four occasions, three of which was when she was 14 and once after she turned 15.
“Teo initiated the sexual meet-ups and the sexual activity,” DPP Chong said. “There was no romantic relationship between him and (the girl) and his intentions towards her were purely sexual in nature. He knew at the time he was having sex with her exactly how young she was.”
For each charge of sexual penetration of a minor, he could have been jailed up to 10 years, fined or punished with both. — TODAY
