SINGAPORE, Sept 14 — A 20-year-old man was reportedly sentenced to nine years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane today for sexual offences involving three girls aged 13 and 14.
According to *The Straits Times*, the offender had given police statements over two earlier incidents in 2023 but was not arrested before committing another sexual offence in June 2024.
He pleaded guilty to one count of rape and two counts of sexually penetrating a minor, while another rape charge and a further charge of sexually penetrating a minor were taken into consideration for sentencing.
His identity and those of the three victims cannot be disclosed due to a gag order.
Court documents cited by the Singapore daily said the offender was about 17 when he met the first victim, then aged 13, on TikTok in September 2023 and later raped her after she asked him to stop during sexual intercourse.
The girl made a police report on October 31 that year, after which the offender gave a statement to the authorities.
He later met the second victim, then 14, at a gathering in December 2023 and subsequently sexually penetrated and raped her at the staircase landing of a block of flats.
Police were alerted after her father discovered messages between the pair, and the offender gave another statement to the authorities that month.
In June 2024, after turning 18, he had sexual intercourse with a third 14-year-old girl whom he had met through Instagram, with prosecutors saying the act was consensual.
She lodged a police report three days later, and the offender was arrested the same day.