S'pore football coach had sex with girl, 15, claimed he could not 'control himself' despite knowing her age

When her football coach climbed on top of her and started kissing her at his flat in March 2023, a 15-year-old girl felt uncomfortable and reminded him of her age.

In response, the coach, Clifford Tan Guang Wei, who was 28 years old at the time, said he knew, but he did not care "as he was not able to control himself".

Tan then asked the girl to perform other sex acts on him and persisted even after she refused.

Eventually, the girl relented, and both of them returned to a badminton court near Tan's flat to continue with their personal training session before she returned home.

Although the girl's secondary school friend advised her to lodge a police report after learning about what happened, she did not listen as "she liked Tan" and "did not want him to get into trouble".

The girl continued with the personal training sessions, went over to Tan's flat whenever he invited her and had sex with him.

Initiated free personal training sessions

According to court documents seen by Mothership, Tan became the girl's football coach after her mother registered her for training sessions at the academy Tan worked at in February 2023.

As one of the coaches assigned to her, Tan had her personal information and knew about her age.

In the same month, he began texting the girl with personal messages via WhatsApp and offered her free personal training sessions without informing the academy or her mother.

After the girl accepted his offer, they began meeting at a badminton court near Tan's flat for those sessions.

Meanwhile, they kept in touch via WhatsApp, and Tan even brought the girl out for a bowling session and dinner.

Invited girl to his flat

In March 2023, the girl and Tan agreed to meet on Thursdays for the personal training sessions due to her school schedule.

During one of those sessions, Tan invited the girl to his flat, to which she agreed.

Since then, she had gone over to his flat on more than three occasions, either before or midway through the session, as well as on days when there was no session scheduled.

Asked girl for massages

On Mar. 16, 2023, the girl met Tan at the badminton court for the personal training session at around 1pm.

Tan then told her that he had to return to his flat to fetch something he had forgotten to bring with him and asked her to follow him back.

The girl agreed and realised that there was no one at Tan's flat when she arrived.

Later on, Tan said he wanted to take a nap and told the girl to follow him to his bedroom.

When both of them were resting on the bed, Tan asked the girl to massage his neck.

She compiled and proceeded to massage his neck while he was lying face down on the bed.

Persisted after girl refused his request

Later on, Tan asked the girl for a shoulder massage, to which she also agreed.

However, when she was massaging his shoulder, Tan placed his right hand on her thigh and said he was "hard" and therefore was unable to sleep.

He then went on top of her and kissed her, making the girl uncomfortable and prompting her to remind him that she was a minor.

However, Tan replied that "he was unable to control himself" and persisted by asking her to perform various sex acts on him.

Although the victim initially refused his request, she eventually relented, and they returned to the badminton court for the personal training session afterwards.

When the girl's secondary school friend told her the next day to alert the police, she did not take the advice and remained in touch with Tan.

Invited girl to his flat again

A week later, the girl met Tan at a coffeeshop near his flat sometime between 4pm and 5pm on Mar. 23, 2023.

Although they did not schedule any personal training session that day, they met to have dinner at Tan's invitation.

After their meal, Tan invited the girl to his flat, and she noticed that no one was at home this time around as well.

They then had sex and watched football on Tan's laptop until his mother returned home.

The girl spent some time with Tan before leaving his flat that day.

Told girl to follow him back to his flat after training cancelled

Two days later, the girl arrived at the academy for a training session at around 5pm on Mar. 25, 2023.

After she was informed that the session was cancelled due to the rain, Tan told her to follow him back to his flat to have dinner with his mother.

They then took a taxi back, and the girl realised Tan's mother was not at the flat.

Thereafter, she and Tan had sex again, and she stayed at his flat until Tan's mother came back home.

The trio had dinner together before the girl returned home.

Arrested & jailed

More than two weeks later, the police arrested Tan on Apr. 11, 2023.

However, court documents did not reveal how his offences had come to light.

On Dec. 5, 2024, Tan, now 30, was sentenced to 33 months in jail after pleading guilty to three counts of sexual penetration of a minor.

Another three charges, including one count of sexual exploitation of a young person, were taken into consideration for his sentencing.

In her sentencing submissions, the prosecutor said Tan had "abused the trust" placed on him and his position with his deeds.

The prosecutor pointed out that he had also "set the stage" by first initiating free personal training near his flat, bringing the girl on outings, and inviting her to his flat for various reasons before inviting her into his bedroom for sex.

Top image via Canva