SINGAPORE - After exchanging friendly greetings with a girl he met while jogging in a defunct cemetery, Hem Raj Thapa asked her to follow him into the woods. She agreed and they walked into the secluded area, later parting ways following a quick tryst.

The problem, however, was that the girl was only 15 years old.

On Thursday the Nepalese man, 32, was sentenced to 12 months in jail after pleading guilty to underage sex with the girl last December. One similar charge was taken into consideration.

A district court heard that the pair had greeted each other after meeting along a footpath in the old Bidadiri cemetery near Woodleigh MRT station, between 6.30pm and 7.30pm last Dec 29.

Hem Raj Thapa felt that the girl, who was taking a stroll, was being friendly towards him and made his request after fantasising about having sex with her. As the pair were walking into the woods, he asked her age and she replied that she was 15 years old.

After 10 to 15 minutes, Hem Raj Thapa kissed and touched the girl and removed her clothes. She did not resist as he then committed the offence.

Hem Raj Thapa was caught after the minor visited a clinic to get contraceptive pills the next day and the doctor reported the matter to the police.

The man, whose occupation was not given in court papers, said through an interpreter that he was remorseful and had young children. The maximum penalty for sex with a person under 16 years is a jail term of ten years and a fine.