Former TV actor charged for having sex with girl, 15

A former actor was charged in court on Jan. 24 for having sex with a 15-year-old girl.

Not only did the former actor allegedly have sex with the girl six times before she turned 16, charge sheets also showed he attempted to obstruct justice by "instructing her to cry in front of her mother" so as to make it clear that she did not want him to go to jail.

He also allegedly stalked her by calling her 18 times within a day, sending a WhatsApp message referencing a certain phrase and logging into her virtual room on the Quan Min K Ge, a karaoke app.

The case will be mentioned again on Feb 20.

Varying news reports

His identity was known to the media through public case records, and the gag order on his identity was only imposed after he was charged.

According to court proceedings records seen by Mothership, a gag order was imposed on his identity as he was apparently "in a relationship" with the victim.

The gag order on the records stated:

"No person shall publish the name, address, photograph, any evidence or any other thing likely to lead to the identification of the victim and the accused."

The order further stated:

"The name, address, photograph or any evidence or any other thing which is contained in any court document intended to be produced before the court, is to be removed or sufficiently redacted which is likely to lead to the identification."

According to The Straits Times, "The man’s age, nationality, ethnicity, the shows he had appeared on and the locations of his alleged offences also cannot be disclosed, as doing so could lead to his identity."

ST reported that the former actor was alleged to have had sex with "at least one girl". CNA reported that "charge sheets do not state whether the alleged victim is the same across the six charges", while both Lianhe Zaobao and Shin Min Daily News reported that only one victim was involved.

While the charge sheets did not state that the alleged victim is the same person for all six charges, they did show the victim's or victims' date of birth, which is exactly the same.

Gag orders

In Singapore, gag orders are meant to protect victims and not accused persons.

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon explained the intention of gag orders in his extensive written decision to lift a gag order in the case of Colin Chua Yi Jin.

He said:

“The facilitative and protective functions of gag orders explain why they are mostly, though not exclusively, imposed in cases involving sexual offences and minors.

It also follows from the purpose of gag orders that they are imposed solely for the protection of victims or witnesses and never for the benefit of accused persons.”

The issue of gag orders has also been raised before in public.

In reply to an ST forum letter in 2019, "Why no gag order on identity of doctors in sex offence cases?", the Ministry of Law explained:

"The purpose of a gag order is to protect the identity of the alleged victim so as to avoid or minimise further trauma to him or her.

The gag order only extends to protection of the name of the accused in cases where revealing the name of the accused could lead to the identification of the alleged victim, for example, where the alleged victim and accused are related, or are otherwise closely connected."

MinLaw further stated:

"Our legal system operates on the principle of open justice.

This means that accused persons are publicly tried, and their identities are not protected except in narrow exceptions where it could lead to the identification of an alleged victim and cause re-victimisation by unnecessary publicity.

This principle applies whether the accused is a doctor, or any other person."

If found guilty of sexual penetration of a minor, the man can be jailed for up to 10 years, fined or both.

Obstruction of justice is punishable by a jail term of up to seven years in jail, a fine or both.

The offence of stalking that causes harassment carries up to a year in jail, a fine of up to S$5,000 or both.

Top image via Canva and Mothership file photo