|
GUILTY: Soh, 54, even made recordings of the lewd acts.
|
A 54-YEAR-OLD paedophile preyed on two eight-year-old boys after having gained their trust with food, toys and even a trip to the zoo.
Machine operator Soh Beng Huat, alias Teo Beng Huat, lured his victims to secluded spots and sexually assaulted them.
He even made video recordings of the lewd acts a number of times.
Soh, married with three sons aged 14 to 27, was yesterday put behind bars for 22 years. He admitted having oral and anal sex with the two boys on 14 occasions between October 2006 and last March.
In passing sentence, Justice Choo Han Teck said paedophiles with multiple offences should be punished with long jail terms.
The court heard that Soh spotted the first victim, who is mildly mentally retarded, with his older brother at a block of flats in Yishun.
He waited till the boy was alone to strike up a conversation with him.
Having asked the boy to follow him, the pair took two buses to the Yio Chu Kang Swimming Complex. There, Soh molested and performed oral sex on the boy in a toilet cubicle in the men's changing room.
He 'paid' the boy with a cup of ice cream and a curry puff after the misdeed and sent him home.
Soh repeated his modus operandi twice more, taking the boy to Northpoint Shopping Centre and Thomson Plaza.
One day, while seeking out the boy, Soh chanced across a possible fresh victim, a foreigner studying in a primary school here.
He enticed this other boy to follow him to the swimming complex by promising him toys.
After performing oral sex on the boy, Soh bought him a robotic toy and urged him to keep what they had done to himself.
He repeated the offence nine more times in two community clubs and a park.
Soh also sodomised the boy on three occasions, including in a nursing room at Thomson Plaza.
On March 7, the boy, accompanied by his mother, made a police report. Soh was arrested three days later.
A search of his flat turned up DVDs and an MP4 player containing videos of the sex acts on the boys; a camcorder and tripod were found in his letterbox.
Yesterday, Soh pleaded guilty to five counts of oral sex and one of sodomy. Another 14 charges were taken into consideration.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Peter Koy called for a deterrent sentence, listing several aggravating factors:
He said Soh had taken advantage of vulnerable victims - especially the first boy - who were young, impressionable and susceptible to manipulation.
The DPP added that it was clear Soh's crimes were meticulously planned. Soh had done his 'research' on his victims, finding out their parents' working hours, he noted.
DPP Koy also said Soh may well have caused irreparable harm to the victims.
selinal@sph.com.sg
|
