SINGAPORE: A 14-year-old boy impregnated his 15-year-old classmate and the pair tried to abort the foetus using methods they found online.
However, the girl gave birth to a stillborn child about six months into her pregnancy, while on video call with her boyfriend.
She later buried the body in her garden.
The case was uncovered when the girl’s mother noticed that her daughter was exceptionally quiet and asked her what happened.
The boy, who is now 18 but cannot be named as he was a minor at the time of the offence, pleaded guilty on Wednesday (Dec 13).
He admitted to one count each of sexual penetration of a minor and abetting by instigating the girl to conceal the birth of her child by burying it.
The court heard that the couple began dating in 2020 when the boy was 14 and the victim was 15.
They began having sex at the boy’s home. He did not use protection as he found it difficult to purchase due to his young age, said the prosecutor.
Sometime in January 2021, the girl suspected that she had become pregnant and asked the boy to get a pregnancy test kit online.
After finding out about the pregnancy, she told her boyfriend but concealed the news from her family.
The pair agreed to try to abort the foetus in various ways they found online, including abortion pills the accused bought online.
With the victim’s consent, the boy punched the girl’s stomach and kneed her abdomen in an attempt to abort the child.
THE BIRTH
On Jun 10, 2021, the victim was at home when she began suffering labour pains.
She made a video call to the accused to tell him about the imminent birth and stayed on the call with him.
She gave birth to a stillborn son past midnight on Jun 11, alone in her bedroom, and used a pair of scissors to cut the umbilical cord.
The accused then told her to cut the placenta into small pieces, flush it away and bury the foetus.
The girl wrapped her baby in newspaper and placed it in a cabinet, but her boyfriend warned her that it was inappropriate and risky to keep it in the house.
Two days after the stillbirth, the girl buried the body in the garden of her home. From time to time, she would sit there to grieve.
The couple ended their relationship in March 2022. A month later, the victim’s mother noticed that the girl was exceptionally quiet and asked if anything was wrong.
The girl confessed to what happened and the police later recovered the body.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Gan Ee Kiat on Wednesday said he does not object to the calling of either a probation suitability report or a reformative training report.
Defence lawyers Choo Si Sen and Choo Yean Lin asked the court not to request a reformative training report, noting that their client was going to the army in January.
In their written mitigation plea, the lawyers said their client was a first-time offender who committed the offences on the spur of the moment due to his immature age.
The lawyers said the teenager obtained good academic results and comes from “a well-structured family”.
In the teen’s statements, he “admitted to the charges and wants to move on with his life”, wrote the lawyers.
The judge called for a probation suitability report, saying he would not be asking for a reformative training report at this juncture.
The accused will return to court for sentencing in January.
The penalties for abetting the concealment of a child’s birth is two years’ maximum jail, a fine, or both.
For sexual penetration of a minor, an offender can be jailed for up to 20 years, fined or caned.