Using a fake name, he befriended young girls on Facebook. Once he tricked the girls into meeting him, the 30-year-old would ask for various sexual favours.
In a span of about two months, security supervisor Benjamin Sim preyed on four underage girls, aged between 11 and 13, this way — getting them to send him nude photos, perform oral sex on him in public places and having sex in his home.
Today (July 29), Sim was sentenced to a jail term of 20 years and six months, as well as 24 strokes of the cane, the maximum number allowed, for the various offences he committed between November 2012 and January 2013.
He faced 23 charges in total, but only eight — related to statutory rape, sexual penetration of a minor under 14, sexual exploitation of a child, and possession of a film without a valid licence — were proceeded with.
Sim’s modus operandi was to add the girls on his Facebook page, introducing himself as “Peter Tan”, before exchanging numbers and then meeting up with them.
Soon after meeting the girls, he would ask them for various sexual favours.
On one occasion, Sim performed oral sex on his 13-year-old victim in the back of a taxi, after picking her up from school. They then alighted at his condominium in Woodleigh, and had sex in Sim’s bedroom. He later gave the victim S$20 to take a taxi home.
Two of his victims were a pair of twins, then in Secondary One. Sim bought them a handphone each, so that they could communicate with him without their parents noticing.
His relationship with the twins came to light, after their mother found one of the new handphones on Dec 15, 2012, and proceeded to lodge a police report the next day.
Sim’s real identity was discovered only after police investigations, and he was arrested and remanded in February last year.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Zhong Zewei had asked for a jail term of 20 to 22 years, coupled with 24 strokes of the cane, to be meted out, citing Sim’s sexual exploitation of the young girls and his lack of self-control.
In his defence, lawyer Edmond Pereira portrayed Sim as a person with “lower than normal” intelligence and little self-esteem. The accused had adopted the name “Peter Tan” as an act of escapism, said Mr Pereira.
As Justice Tay Yong Kwang delivered the sentence, which was backdated to Sim’s remand, his eyes reddened, and he dropped his head into his hands.
Sim’s father left the courtroom, while his mother and two brothers lingered around to speak with him.
Source: www.todayonline.com
