Man jailed three months for attempting to have paid sex with minor
Contractor, 42, sentenced to three months in first such case here
Looking for a sugar daddy, the 16-year-old girl promoted her sexual services using an online classified advertisement network application.
Her posts attracted the attention of contractor Andy Kow Yong Wen, 42, who asked her to have sex with him, but she refused.
In August 2017, he drove her to the basement carpark of Ikea at Alexandra Road and digitally penetrated her.
Yesterday, Kow became the first person to be convicted for attempting to obtain commercial sex from a minor and was jailed three months.
According to court documents, the victim had downloaded the app onto her mobile phone and created posts offering certain sexual services to gain customers.
On Aug 1, 2017, Kow, who is single, sent messages to the victim's account, saying he was keen on her services, and was willing to be her sugar daddy.
Kow and the victim then communicated via WeChat.
The victim told Kow her age and sent a picture of herself, via the classified advertisement app, after he asked for it.
Kow also asked if she was willing to have sex with him for $500, but she refused.
PICKED VICTIM UP
Kow asked to meet the victim to discuss the sexual services she was providing.
They agreed that Kow would pick her up near her home and take her to Alexandra Road, where she was taking tuition.
But when they reached Ikea Alexandra, Kow drove into the basement carpark instead of dropping her off.
There, Kow kissed her, and also digitally penetrated her.
The victim told Kow she was late for tuition, and Kow asked her if she had money to eat.
She said she did, but he still handed her $50, which she took and left.
On Aug 25, 2017, the victim's mother discovered messages on her mobile phone of her providing sexual services to men.
Her parents lodged a police report that day. Kow claimed trial, during which he made several defences.
These included how he wanted her to meet her to verify that she was "real", that he was just "passing time" by talking to her on the app, and that he had met her to invite her for a meal or movie in exchange for $500.
During sentencing, District Judge John Ng noted the six-month jail term proposed by the prosecution was too high.
But he noted the sentence could not be a slap on the wrist either.
It had to be sufficiently deterrent to discourage people from trying to gain the trust of immature girls for the purpose of commercial sex.
He added: "Regardless of whether these girls had actively attracted the attention of the men, the law is there to prohibit, without exceptions, such attempts and propositions."
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