SINGAPORE: A teenager recruited two underage girls into doing sex work under him, taking a cut of their earnings from customers he obtained via Telegram.
The boy, now 17, cannot be named along with the victims as they are minors.
He pleaded guilty to six charges in a district court on Friday (Nov 30), including recruiting a child for sexual exploitation, receiving money for brokering sexual services, advertising sexual services on Telegram and obstructing justice.
Another seven charges will be taken into consideration for sentencing.
The court heard that the boy, an Indian national and Singapore permanent resident, was a student at the time of the offences.
He got to know the first victim, a 16-year-old hawker assistant named V1 in court documents, through the father of her child, who was his friend.
In June 2022, V1 needed money to support her baby and met the offender for a meal, asking for jobs that paid fast cash.
A month later, the offender became a member of a Telegram chat group where sexual services were offered. He was allowed to post advertisements in the chat group.
The boy then told V1 that he had found her a “high paying” job, but that she would need to provide “full services”, referring to intercourse.
He promised her up to S$500 (US$375) per booking, with S$100 in commission to be paid to him each time.
Under the arrangement, the offender would help obtain customers for V1 and advertise her services. V1 agreed and gave him her photographs and measurements for advertising purposes.
Between July 2022 and April 2023, the offender advertised V1’s services in the chat group as a 17-year-old “xmm” social escort, which he understood to mean “cute young girl”.
He secured at least five customers for V1, earning a commission of S$600 in total which V1 would pay him via PayNow.
In January 2023, V1 introduced a second victim to him – V2, a 17-year-old school dropout.
At the same time, the offender became an administrator of the chat group.
He took on V2 as well and advertised her sexual services for S$400, marketing her as a 17-year-old “xmm” social escort.
He obtained multiple customers for V2, including one who paid for intercourse with her.
One of the girls’ customers, 34-year-old Singaporean Muhamad Reduan Kamsari, engaged V2’s sexual services through the chat group on Feb 26.
He contacted the offender, who arranged for the meet-up and agreed to let Reduan meet V2 for an additional S$200 in commission.
Reduan met V2 in Lengkok Bahru on Feb 26, where they engaged in a sex act for S$600.
He then obtained V2’s contact and engaged her services on another occasion, without first arranging via the boy.
On Apr 3, Reduan called the police to say he had been scammed.
When police officers arrived at the scene, they found Reduan with both V1 and V2.
Reduan told the police that he had engaged V2 for sexual services through an agent from the Telegram chat group.
He admitted knowing that V2 was 17, but claimed that he thought the legal age requirement for paid sexual services was 16.
V1 sent a message to the offender with the single word “police”. The offender took this to mean that his operations had been compromised.
He changed the title of his Telegram chat group and logged out of the account. He also deleted the Telegram chat logs with customers from his devices, intending to evade police detection.
Investigators from the Specialised Crime Branch interviewed both victims before identifying the offender and arresting him.
The investigators were unable to access the offender’s Telegram account, as he claimed to have forgotten his password.
Investigations later revealed that both victims had delayed paying their commissions to the offender in January 2023. He then offered to waive their owed fees if they had sex with him, but they rejected his offer and paid him the money instead.
VERY SERIOUS OFFENCES: PROSECUTOR
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tay Jia En asked for a report assessing the offender’s suitability for reformative training.
He said the offender, while young, faces very serious offences which ordinarily carry heavy imprisonment terms.
Over a year and one month, he racked up 13 charges, reoffending for one charge while he was released on station bail.
The offender also proliferated vice activities using social media, hindering law enforcement efforts by deleting crucial evidence and showing “absolutely no qualms” recruiting the victims “into the corrupting world of vice”, said Mr Tay.
He added that the offender was clearly motivated by financial gain, earning at least S$1,100 in total.
Defence lawyer Samuel Chong said his client was young. While he did not object to the prosecution seeking a reformative training report, he also asked for a report assessing his client’s suitability for probation.
The judge said he did not think probation could be excluded entirely, based on the offender’s young age and lack of past convictions.
He said he would ask for both reports before deciding on the sentence.
The offender will return to court for sentencing in December.
The cases for Reduan and other customers will be dealt with separately.