SINGAPORE – Despite being 22 years old, a man lied to a 13-year-old girl he met online that he was 15.

When the girl questioned him and said he looked older, he claimed “it was just in his genes”.

For three months in 2023, the man engaged in sexual acts with the girl almost weekly at a staircase landing in Tampines while she was in her school uniform.

On Feb 10, the man, now 25, was sentenced to 11 years’ jail and 10 strokes of the cane. He pleaded guilty to several offences including statutory rape and sexual grooming of a minor below 16 years old.

The man cannot be named due to a gag order protect the identities of the girl and another victim.

The court heard that during the period he committed the offences, the man held various jobs including a banquet server, warehouse assistant, swimming teacher, clerk and luge operator.

In August 2023, the man met the girl, then 13, on Telegram. Although he claimed on his profile that he was 15, the girl questioned him, as he looked older in his photos.

The man kept to his lie and further deceived her, saying that he was a student at Singapore Sports School.

At first, the girl was wary of him, but continued to chat with him on Telegram as she found him funny and interesting, said Deputy Public Prosecutors Claire Poh and Ernest Chua.

As they chatted, he discussed sex acts with the girl before initiating a meet-up with her.

When the girl first met him at a bus stop in Tampines, she asked him again about his age, as she felt he looked even older in real life. However, the man maintained his lie that he was 15.

The man then took the girl to a staircase landing nearby and asked her to kiss him and perform a sex act on him. She complied.

The DPPs said the girl would not have consented to any initial sexual activity had she known his real age, as she would have bee...