A 39-year-old man in Singapore sentenced to 10 months' jail over paying a 15-year-old minor for sexual services has appealed for a lighter sentence.
Nooradha Bin Sanip's defence lawyer cited a psychologist's report which assessed that he was depressed as a result of his wife suffering from cancer.
The report further claimed that he resorted to paid sex services to cope with an unsatisfactory sex life.
Asked minor if she wanted a 'sugar daddy'
The court heard that sometime before Mar. 17, 2022, Nooradha found the girl's profile on an online dating application.
Finding her attractive, he contacted her via Telegram.
During their first conversation, Nooradha asked if she was interested in a sugar daddy and offered a weekly allowance.
He also requested for her to send him “sexy and revealing” photographs of herself, which she acquiesced to.
Paid her for sexual acts
On Mar. 17, Nooradha drove the girl to a multi-storey car park where he performed sexual acts on her without a condom.
Later, he paid the girl S$200 before dropping her off near her home.
Nooradha continued to ask her for sexually explicit photographs and videos of herself, including one of her touching herself intimately while in her school uniform.
He then met up with the girl again on Apr. 13, 2022 for sex.
The minor had told Nooradha that she was 18 years old, but he never verified her actual age.
Actions were sexually exploitative: Prosecution
The prosecution sought a deterrent sentence of between 10 to 12 months' jail for Nooradha, for engaging in sexual activity with a minor.
The prosecution argued that Nooradha's repeated requests for explicit photographs from the minor "increased" the degree of his sexual exploitation of her.
Also, by not using a condom, he increased the risk of passing her a sexually transmitted disease, the prosecution added.
Used paid sex services to cope with depression, wife's cancer: Defence
In mitigation, Nooradha's defence lawyer pointed out that Nooradha did not have a criminal record and had pleaded guilty out of "very intense remorse” for what he had done.
The lawyer said that Nooradha had "all along [been] of the view that the [she] was 18 years old” and had acted “foolishly” in failing to verify her age.
Noting that Nooradha's wife suffers from blood cancer, the lawyer pleaded for a lighter sentence to reduce the trauma and hardship on his family "if he is too harshly dealt with".
The lawyer also cited a report from Nooradha's psychologist which claimed that from early 2020 to December 2022, he "experienced an emotional roller-coaster" as a result of his wife's “wayang” sickness.
Wayang is a slang word in Singlish which can mean "dramatic".
Despite seeing many doctors and going for many blood tests, his wife's symptoms persisted and there were no concrete diagnoses or treatment, the report indicated.
The report elaborated that Nooradha felt "down and helpless and could barely cope" as he was worried about his wife's physical and mental health, and her being bullied at work.
As his wife was in pain and feeling down, this reduced the couple's sex life to "a bare minimum of once every one to two months" and Nooradha would use pornography and masturbation to "get his release".
The psychologist said Nooradha would work long hours than usual due to a shortage of managers, and also stayed back to "avoid seeing [his wife] and her suffering at home".
He also put on 10kg from comfort eating, had poor sleep, lost interest in activities he usually enjoyed, and had fleeting suicidal thoughts, the psychologist added.
Based on this, the psychologist opined that Nooradha was "suffering from major depressive disorder around the period of the offences" and “resorted to paid sexual services to relieve his depressed mood and emotional distress”.
"While his low mood was not severe enough to completely take away his ability to make decisions, we believed it is likely to have contributed significantly to his actions in reducing his impulse control and judgment," the report concluded.
Report poorly reasoned and deficient: Judge
The judge, however, opined that the psychologist's report was "poorly reasoned" and her assessment of Nooradha's psychiatric condition was "premised on what the accused had himself told [her]".
The judge also asserted that the psychologist "failed to explain how she reached the conclusions" on how his supposed condition would have contributed to the offences, and noted that the defence lawyer had conceded on this very point.
"I found [the] report to be so deficient as to be valueless to the court in this case and thus declined to place any reliance on it," the judge said.
The judge concluded that there was no evidence of any psychiatric illness that would moderate Nooradha's sentence.
Nevertheless, the judge deemed the fact that Nooradha had pleaded guilty as having mitigating weight, and determined that a sentence on the lowest end of the benchmark was appropriate.
Nooradha subsequently appealed against the sentence and is currently out on bail while the outcome of his appeal is pending.
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