Reformative training for teen who prostituted two underage girls on Telegram chat group
A teen who advertised two girls as social escorts on a Telegram chat group, leading them to provide sexual services to multiple strangers, has been sentenced to at least six months of reformative training.
On Jan 23, the 18-year-old received his sentence via video link in a district court. He had previously pleaded guilty to six charges, including offences under the Women’s Charter and Prevention of Human Trafficking Act.
Reformative training is a more severe punishment than probation and results in a criminal record. It involves being detained in a reformative training centre for six to 12 months to attend rehabilitative programmes and counselling.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tay Jia En said the teen was not suitable for probation, but the reasons were not revealed in court.
After handing down the sentence, Deputy Principal District Judge Kessler Soh also arranged for the teen to meet a court counsellor.
The perpetrator and his victims, identified only as V1 and V2 in court documents, cannot be named owing to a gag order.
The Straits Times previously reported that the teen got to know V1 from a friend, who was the girl’s ex-boyfriend and father of her child.
In June 2022, V1 needed money to support her baby and asked the teen to recommend jobs that paid “fast cash”.
The teen became a member of the Telegram chat group in July 2022, and was allowed to post advertisements in the chat.
He told V1 he had found a “high-paying” job for her, but she would need to provide sexual services. She would earn up to $500 from each booking and pay him $100 in commission each time.
He asked V1 for sexually provocative photos and personal details to advertise her services on the chat group, claiming she was a 17-year-old social escort despite knowing she was only 16.
In total, he found at least five customers for V1.
In January 2023, V1 introduced V2 to him, as V2 was also interested in providing sexual services to earn money. The teen subsequently found at least four customers for her.
The scheme was exposed when a 34-year-old customer, Muhamad Reduan, called the police after engaging V2 for sexual services.
He said he had been scammed, but it was not clear from court documents what the “scam” was.
DPP Tay said Muhamad Reduan and the other customers of the victims will be dealt with separately.
Upon realising his operation had been compromised, the teen changed the title of the chat group to an innocuous name. He also logged out of his Telegram account and deleted chats with customers on his digital devices.
For this, he was charged with more offences of obstructing the course of justice.
Investigations revealed that the teen had offered to waive some commissions from V1 and V2 if they had sex with him. They refused and paid him instead.
DPP Tay had called for a reformative training suitability report, saying: “The conduct of the accused clearly points towards a sustained pattern of criminal conduct which befits a sterner form of rehabilitative sentence.”
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