Badminton coach pressured schoolboy, 14, to have sex with him
The teenager looked up to him as a role model and mentor.
But the badminton coach abused his position and pressured the underage boy to engage in sexual activities with him.
Once, he even asked the then-14-year-old boy to join him and a male prostitute for a threesome.
The 32-year-old coach, who cannot be named to protect the teenager's identity, pleaded guilty in court yesterday to eight counts of sexual penetration involving the underage boy.
OBSCENE ACT
He also admitted to one count each of asking the youngster to perform an obscene act and committing an indecent act on the child.
Thirteen other charges, mainly for similar offences, will be taken into consideration when he is sentenced at a later date.
The pair first met in 2012 when the boy, then 13, was in Secondary One. When the boy joined his school's badminton team, the man was its assistant coach.
The lanky man first struck in 2013 when they were alone in the toilet of the school's indoor sports hall after training.
He touched the boy's private parts from outside his shorts, the court heard.
Between June 25 and 28 that year, they went for a holiday in Phuket, Thailand, with two other boys from the school's badminton team.
The coach and the victim went to the hotel's sauna while the other boys were in their room.
The man masturbated himself in the boy's presence before touching him.
About six months later, the coach went to Batam, Indonesia, for a regional badminton tournament with the boy and four other students from the school.
The pair shared a hotel room there. While the teenager was taking a shower, the man came forward and performed oral sex on him.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Randeep Singh said the man left his position as the school's assistant coach at the end of that year, but continued working as a freelance private coach.
In June last year, the victim quit the school's badminton team and started attending private badminton lessons conducted by the man.
On Aug 16, the man lured the boy to his Hougang flatand performed oral sex on him. He committed the same act on the youngster in his car at the rooftop carpark of Bishan North Shopping Mall eight days later.
After badminton training a week later, he drove the boy to a heavy vehicle carpark at Anchorvale Crescent in Sengkang and performed oral sex on him.
Then, he asked the boy to do likewise to him and the teenager complied.
The court heard that this was the first time the boy performed oral sex on the man.
DPP Singh said that around early September last year, the boy began avoiding the coach as he wanted their sexual liaisons to stop.
This resulted in an argument between them over WhatsApp that lasted for a few days.
DPP Singh said: "The accused claimed that the victim had taken him for granted and threatened to sever their relationship. The accused also demanded that the victim return the items (he) had previously given him."
Court papers did not mention what these items were.
NUDE PICTURES
On Sept 19, the man told the teenager that he would give him "one last chance" and asked to meet him at Hougang Sports Hall.
"The victim feared losing the accused as his coach and mentor and agreed to meet the accused," DPP Singh told District Judge Salina Ishak.
When they met, the man asked the teenager to perform oral sex on him in the toilet of the sports hall and he complied. This was to "test" the teenager's commitment to him, said DPP Singh.
He added: "After the incident, the accused assured the victim over WhatsApp that he would not 'ditch' him, provided the victim did not make him angry again."
Later that day, he asked the boy to send him his nude pictures and the latter complied.
About a month later, the coach told him about a male prostitute he had befriended on a dating portal for gay men. He asked the boy if he wanted to see men having sex and the teenager agreed.
They went to a unit on the 19th storey of People's Park Complex in Chinatown to meet the sex worker in his room. The prostitute then performed oral sex on the coach while the boy sat on the edge of the bed and watched.
He moved closer when his coach asked him to join them and the sex worker performed oral sex on the teenager as well.
DPP Singh said: "Later that night, the accused asked the victim whether he had enjoyed the sexual encounter with the male prostitute and whether he wished to visit the male prostitute again. The victim said he did not."
The man's offences came to light on Oct 24 last year.
After badminton training at around 11pm that day, he drove the boy to an open-air carpark at Venus Drive, off Upper Thomson Road, where they performed oral sex on each other.
Police Sergeant Muhammad Ikhsan Said, who was patrolling in the area, spotted the man's car.
He asked the pair to step out of the vehicle and interviewed them separately.
The man was arrested after he and the boy admitted it was not the first time they had performed sexual acts on each other.
The man, who was not represented by a lawyer, will be back in court on Nov 17.
For each count of sexual penetration of a minor, he can be jailed up to 10 years and fined.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
