SINGAPORE: A man who posed as a teenager online to talk to underage girls was sentenced to 11 years' jail and 10 strokes of the cane on Tuesday (Feb 10).

The Singaporean, now aged 25, who cannot be named due to gag orders protecting the identity of two victims, pleaded guilty to two counts of statutory rape, one count of sexual grooming of a minor and one count of sexual penetration of a minor.

Another 14 charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that the offender held various jobs such as a banquet server, warehouse assistant, swimming teacher, clerk and luge operator.

In August 2023, when the offender was 22 years old, he matched with a 13-year-old girl on a Telegram bot.

The offender knew the girl's age, as she stated it in her profile.

Although the offender lied in his profile that he was 15, the girl asked him about his age as he looked older in his photos.

The offender maintained that he was 15 and said it was "just in his genes" that he looked older. He also lied that he was going to the Singapore Sports School.

At first, the girl felt wary of him but continued to communicate with him as she found him funny and interesting to talk to.

The offender discussed sex acts with the victim and asked to meet her in person sometime between August 2023 and September 2023.

When the girl first saw him, she found that he looked even older in real life and asked his age.

The young man continued to lie that he was 15 and repeated that it was his genes that made him look older.

The court heard that the victim would not have consented to any initial sexual activity had she known his true age, as she would have been wary of him given the age difference.

The offender then took the girl to a staircase landing of a multi-storey car park in Tampines where he asked the girl to kiss him and perform sex acts on him.

The girl, who had not engaged in any sexual activity before this, complied.

After the first meeting, the offender asked the victim to be his girlfriend and she agreed.

They met at the staircase landing almost every week between September 2023 and November 2023 for sexual acts while the girl was in her school uniform.

Sometime in January 2024, when the girl was still 13, the offender asked her if she wanted to have sex with him.

Initially, the girl was uncomfortable but relented on persuasion.

The offender then raped her at the staircase...