A 39 year-old youth counselor was sentenced to 7 months jail after he admitted to taking indecent photographs of a 12 year-old girl in his home today. The man, who cannot be named due to a court gag order, had lured the young girl to his Ang Mo Kio home on 25th April 2012, where he committed the offences.
In court today, lawyers told the court that the accused was a friend of the girl's mother, and he was a familiar face to the girl as she would address him as "uncle". The girl would sometimes ask the man for money and he would give her between $2 to $10.
On 25th April, the 12 year-old girl and her 17 year-old friend were loitering at the void deck when they decided to call the accused to ask for $300 to buy a handphone. He later invited the both of them to his house later in the day, where he told them that he could teach them how to make more money by becoming "hostesses".
He asked the victim to strip naked, and although she was initially reluctant, she agreed after some persuasion. After getting her to strike a pose on his bed, he took a photograph of her.
In his defence, lawyer S.S. Dhillon said that his client had been an active participant in the community and had been engaged by several MOE-run schools to be a youth counselor. He also pointed out that the victim herself was a willing participant in the incident. According to Dhillon, the girl's case file stated that she was a former delinquent who was previously admitted to a girl's home, and she also had a history of having sex with other men, who were later prosecuted for having sex with a minor.
For his offences, the 39 year-old counselor could have been jailed 5 years, fined $10,000 or both.
