SINGAPORE - He met a 15-year-old student on a networking app last year and asked if she was willing to provide sexual services in exchange for roughly $200 each time.

The conversation moved to messaging app Telegram, where they discussed the use of a sex toy. They eventually met in person and went to his home to engage in sexual activity.

The 57-year-old man was sentenced to 10 months and four weeks' jail for committing a sexual act with a minor and distributing obscene objects to a person under the age of 21.

Another two charges of possessing obscene films and sexual penetration of a minor were taken into consideration during the sentencing.

Details about the Singaporean man cannot be disclosed as the girl, now 16, is protected under the Children and Young Persons Act and cannot be identified.

The pair got to know each other on networking app Whisper on Aug 30 last year and the girl was asked if she was willing to provide paid sexual services by using a sex toy to stimulate him.

Through Telegram, the man sent her four obscene films depicting a woman using the instrument on a man.

"He circulated these films to groom her to perform these acts on himself," Deputy Public Prosecutor Emily Koh told the court.

Enticed by the money, the girl accepted his offer and sent photos with close-ups of her face when he asked for them.

He told her he would book a hotel room for them to meet and asked her if she was working or still in school.

"When the victim replied that she was a student, he told her that they needed to be very discreet," said DPP Koh.

The pair agreed to meet at Hotel 81 in Dickson Road at around 5pm on Sept 1, 2020, but they were turned away when the girl could not produce her NRIC for registration when they tried to book a room.

They were rejected again at Haising Hotel in Jalan Besar for the same reason and the girl suggested that they head to the man's residence in Marsiling Drive.

He gave her some cash to book a Grab car back to his home, while he rode on his motorcycle.

At his home, they engaged in sexual activity in the toilet before going to the bedroom to perform sexual acts using the toy.

He passed her $250 once they were done and she left.

The man was arrested on Sept 15 last year at his home after the girl made a police report about being paid for sexual activities.

In the accused's mitigation plea, defence lawyer Azri Imran Tan from IRB Law said the man regretted his actions.

"He sought companionship and intimacy out of loneliness as an elderly, unmarried man," said Mr Tan, who stressed that the man did not use the Internet to seek underage sex, but instead for female companionship.

The man assumed the girl was 18 by the time they met as she had told him she was "almost 18" when they first communicated, Mr Tan said.

The girl did not appear to be "particularly vulnerable", he added, and inferred that she was a willing participant as she suggested going to the man's place.

"As highlighted above, he should have known better, but was overcome by lust and loneliness," said Mr Azri, pleading for a jail sentence of up to 10 months.

He added that the man had multiple health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension and heart issues, surviving daily on a list of medications.

DPP Koh urged the court to sentence the man to 11 to 13 months' jail on the grounds of deterrence and retribution. "Her consent is not relevant in this case because the law was designed to protect the young, given their immaturity in age. He should have known better," she said.

She added that he was in 1992 jailed for the unlawful possession of ammunition.

The man's bail was extended and he was ordered to surrender himself at the court on Dec 6 to begin his sentence after settling his household matters.