Brief Facts in relation to the proceeded charges concerning the first victim (“A1”):  s 3(2) of POHTA and Sexual Penetration of a Minor

The Accused messaged A1 (a 15 year old female Singapore Citizen, at the time of the offences) over Facebook, and said he had a job offer for her. He informed her that he had a modelling job to offer to her, provided that she was willing to perform “extra” duties including providing oral and sexual intercourse to her customers. A1 rejected the Accused’s offer as she did not want to be involved in prostitution.

The Accused continued to contact A1 and invited her to meet at the Starbucks outlet at Centrepoint, informing her that he would introduce her to modelling and photo shoot jobs. A1 agreed to meet the Accused at 3 pm on 15 April 2015. At Starbucks, the Accused told A1 he would need to assess her body without her clothes on. She reluctantly agreed and followed him to the public male toilet at Level 5 of Cuppage Plaza.

Under the directions of the Accused, A1 followed the accused into a cubicle in the said male toilet. The Accused instructed A1 to remove all her clothes. The Accused then took three photographs of A1’s nude body with his camera. Thereafter, under the directions of the Accused, A1 performed penile-oral sex on the Accused. The accused then proceeded to penetrate A1’s vagina with his finger. Subsequently, in the said toilet cubicle, the Accused penetrated A1’s vagina with his penis. The Accused did not wear a condom. The penile-vaginal sex lasted for approximately five minutes. The victim did not reject the Accused’s sexual advances in the toilet as she was afraid that if she did so, he would not give her any modelling jobs.

After their meeting, the Accused continued to message A1 over Whatsapp and Facebook, with the intention to convince her to accept prostitution jobs. He told her that 16 was a good age to start engaging in prostitution activities as once she was older, people would no longer want to hire her. He subsequently sent her several nude photographs of unknown women over Whatsapp and persuaded her to pose in a similar manner and send nude photographs of herself to him. A1 agreed as she felt that if she did not do so, the Accused would not arrange any modelling jobs for her. A1 sent a photograph of her face and breasts, as well as another close-up photograph of her vagina to the Accused via Whatsapp.

Brief Facts in relation to the proceeded charges concerning the second victim (“A2”):  s 3(2) and s 6(1) of POHTA

A2 (a 16 year old female Singapore Citizen, at the time of the offences) responded to an advertisement on the “Gumtree” website placed by the accused. She messaged the number listed on the advertisement. Throughout his interaction with A2, the Accused used two personas “Mrdotdotdot” and “Khai”. The Accused would use the persona of “Mrdotdotdot” to intimidate A2, and the persona of “Khai” to act as an empathetic confidante, so as to win the trust of A2. A2 was completely unaware that “Khai” and “Mrdotdotdot” were in fact the same person.

A2 subsequently met the Accused (whom she knew as “Khai”) on 15 March 2015. She confided in him that she was 16 years old and a virgin. “Khai” told A2 that if she wanted him to help her look for jobs she had to be open-minded. A2 then asked him what she had to do in order to prove she was open-minded. “Khai” told A2 that she should have sex with him. A2 felt afraid when faced with this request, so she excused herself to use the toilet. She was eventually convinced to perform penile-oral sex on “Khai” on two occasions.

Sometime in early April, “Khai” messaged A2 again and told her that if she wanted “Mrdotdotdot” and “Khai” to introduce customers to her, he would have to try her skills in the bedroom first. Tempted by the offer of remuneration and lured into trusting the Accused through the persistently “nice” persona of “Khai”, A2 lied to the Accused that she had lost her virginity to her boyfriend and was therefore willing to engage in penile-vaginal intercourse. “Khai” checked into a “La Mode” Hotel in Lorong 10 Geylang with A2 using a borrowed police report for a lost NRIC as A2 was too young to check-in.  In the hotel room, “Khai” engaged in penile-oral and penile-vaginal intercourse with A2. The Accused filmed their sexual encounter with a Gopro camera.

From around the beginning of April, “Khai” began to arrange for customers for A2. The Accused continued to apply pressure on A2 using both “Khai” and “Mrdotdotdot” personas, so as to persuade A2 to take up prostitution jobs with the Accused’s customers. However, A2 did not respond to the text messages as she was feeling unwell during that period. In order to exert control over A2, “Khai” contacted the victim and told her that “Mrdotdotdot” had sent “Khai” nude photos of A2, which A2 had previously sent to “Mrdotdotdot” upon his request, and was threatening to post them online. “Khai” then played the part of an empathetic confidante and advised A2 how she should handle the situation with “Mrdotdotdot”. This worked to increase the level of trust that A2 had in “Khai”.

Sometime in the second week of April 2015, “Khai” arranged for A2 to meet a customer to engage in penile-vaginal intercourse for $450. A2 met the said customer (an unidentified Indian male) at Punggol MRT, where he picked her up in a white Audi car. A2 engaged in both penile-vaginal sex and penile-oral sex with the customer. She was paid $450. Thereafter, she called “Khai” and he arranged to meet her at Five Tapaz bar located at No 25 Cuppage Road, Cuppage Terrace, Singapore. She handed over $50 from her earnings to “Khai”.