Sex offender's mother jailed for telling victim's classmate to lie to police

SINGAPORE - A woman whose son had sex with an underage girl tried to cover up for him by coercing the victim's classmate into lying to the police.

The student complied out of fear as the woman had threatened to "look for her" if the truth was told to the police.

But the mother's efforts were all in vain, as her son was later convicted of one count of sexually penetrating the underage victim and sentenced to 18 months' probation.

On Friday (Nov 1), the 46-year-old woman was sentenced to two months' jail after admitting that she had told the teenager to lie to the police.

The woman and others involved in the case cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the victim's identity.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Shenna Tjoa said that a police report was made on May 1, 2016, about the sexual offence. Court documents did not disclose details of the offence.

The following month, the mother asked to meet the 18-year-old classmate of the victim at the void deck of an Ang Mo Kio block of flats.

She told the teenager to tell the police that on the day of the sexual offence, the girl was with the victim in the woman's flat while her son was sleeping in another part of the unit.

The teenager later told the police the fabricated story as she was afraid that the woman would hurt her.

DPP Tjoa told District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt: "Police resources were expended and further statements had to be recorded from the witnesses involved in the sexual assault offence because of (the teenager's) statement containing the false story, which was also consistent with the false statement provided by (the mother) to the police."

For committing the offence, the mother could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined.