A 25-year-old Indian-origin student has been sentenced to 10 months jail after he was found guilty of taking the services of an underage sex worker in May last year.
Hari Kumar Anpalagan was found guilty on Tuesday following a three-day trial and convicted of hiring the sex worker who was below 18 years. The girl admitted that she started providing services in exchange for cash when she was 14, the Strait Times reported on Wednesday.
He also didn't pay the girl. "You have not shown a shred of remorse for the girl... You added salt to the wound by not paying her," District Judge Kenneth Yap chided Anpalagan.
The court heard that Anpalagan responded to the girl's post on the Tagged social network app in which she sought help to buy a new mobile phone last year. He offered to assist and asked what he would get in return.
The girl offered sexual services and after negotiating they agreed she would receive 70 Singapore dollars. The pair met in May at the deck of her apartment.
The girl told Anpalagan that she was 16 but this did not deter him from engaging her services. Later, Anpalagan left without paying the girl.
The matter came to light when the girl's school found out about her activities and the police were notified.
Officers arrested Anpalagan after they found messages he exchanged with the girl in her phone.
Anpalagan had earlier told the court that he did not have sex with the girl. He claimed that he met the girl out of the "goodness of his heart" to give her the money to buy a phone.
He will be back in court on January 5.
According to the media report, two other men were prosecuted and a third was referred to the Serious Sexual Crime Branch of the Singapore Police Force for seeking sex with the underage girl.
