A man indulged in a series of bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism (BDSM) sex activities with a 15-year-old schoolgirl after she posted an advertisement online looking for "someone who (can) afford to pay for my tuition fees".
Lim Chee Keong, 33, met the girl on a website offering commercial sex but never paid her a cent, and went on to have unprotected sex with her thrice despite knowing she was underage.
He was sentenced to five years in jail yesterday on four charges - three of sexual penetration of a minor and one of possession of obscene films. Another seven related charges were taken into consideration.
The assistant engineer had told the girl he was fine with her age but asked that she delete all their correspondence to keep their arrangement under wraps.
They first met in the early hours of New Year's Eve 2016 at a staircase landing in Lim's neighbourhood. Lim made her inhale an unknown liquid, which she said made her feel light-headed and hot. He then had unprotected sex with her, despite her request that he use a condom.
They met again on Jan 21 last year at Park Hotel Alexandra, where Lim got her to take part in BDSM activities after giving her two glasses of cognac and soda to ease her anxiety.
He also had unprotected sex with her twice, again ignoring her request to use protection.
During the course of their dalliance, Lim demanded the girl send him nude photos and videos, and comply with his BDSM demands. She refused initially but agreed when he promised to pay her $4,000 to $5,000 a month for one year.
However, investigations revealed that he never intended to pay up. He used a fake name to engage her and communicated with her using a prepaid SIM card, which he discarded after their encounters. It was further revealed in court that Lim had engaged over six women in 2016 in the same way, promising to pay them for sex but never did.
Lim's offences were discovered when the girl's teacher noticed her behaving oddly and sent her for a counselling session. She broke down during the session and admitted what had happened. The school lodged a police report and Lim was arrested in February last year.
A search of Lim's home uncovered various sexual paraphernalia. He also had 197 obscene films in his electronic devices and a bottle of sex enhancement drugs.
In mitigation, Lim's lawyer Gino Hardial Singh pleaded for leniency, pointing to Lim's lack of antecedents and how he is responsible for the care of his ill father.
For sexual penetration of a minor, Lim could have been sentenced to 10 years' jail and fined. He plans to appeal against his sentence and is currently out on bail of $30,000.
