The Singapore court increased the jail term of a 63-year-old man to 11 years on Tuesday for assaulting a minor boy in a toilet after he challenged the previous verdict with an appeal.
The convict Chua Hock Leong was given eight years imprisonment by the court in July last year. The accused had pleaded guilty of sexually assaulting a boy in a public toilet at Tampines Eco Green in 2016. The victim who was partially disabled was just 12 years then and he had an IQ of 75, just five points above the threshold margin for intellectual disability.
As per the law, caning can be given to the culprit who commits sexual acts against minors. However, as the victim was above 50-years-old, the court spared him from being caned. The name of the victim was kept under the wraps due to a gag order.
In 2016, the victim who was studying in Secondary 1, was waiting for one of his friends at the void deck of a block of flats in Tampines. Leong, who was passing by, saw the boy and gifted him S$2. The convict followed the boy, who later went to Tampines Eco Green, a public park.
The boy then entered the public toilet for handicap people and the convict followed him. When the victim was inside the toilet, the convict asked to perform sexual acts on him. After the boy refused it, the old man forcefully engaged him in sexual acts. A minute later, when the boy felt pain in his private part, Leong stopped and escaped from the scene.
The court of appeal comprised of judges including Andrew Phang, Judith Prakash and Tay Yong Kwang. After the hearing, the court increased the jail term to 11 years and made it clear that this term includes six months in lieu of caning. The court also heard that the incident of sexual assault has drastically affected the victim's life and he is now apparently very afraid to talk to elderly men.
