S'pore man, 72, used Game Boy to get close to boy, 9, & sexually abuse him, gets 2 years' jail

Between 2005 and 2006, a then 51-year-old man, who sold vegetables at a market, sexually abused a nine-year-old boy after getting close to him by offering him game time on Nintendo Game Boy consoles.

20 years later, the married man, now 72, was sentenced to two years in prison for abuse after the boy, now 30, reported it to the police after running into him again.

The identities of those involved are protected under gag order.

Nintendo consoles as bait

According to Chinese media Shin Min Daily News (Shin Min), the market vendor had kept several Nintendo Game Boy consoles, which he allowed children from the community to play with.

The victim, who was nine at the time, frequently spends time at the market.

The nine-year-old eventually got to know the market vendor and his wife, addressing him as "uncle".

The boy's father and grandmother were also acquainted with the vendors, Shin Min wrote.

One day in 2005, the boy, who was then in Primary Three, visited the man's stall.

He was told by the man that he could only play on the game console if he stayed at the stall.

The boy obliged, considering his family did not own one at home, and would visit the man's stall almost every week to play on the console.

Eventually, the man would ask the boy to go with him to collect goods and to visit places.

Emotional blackmail

Soon after, the man began sexually abusing the boy, starting by touching him over his clothes before progressing to direct contact under his pants, The Straits Times (ST) wrote.

Although the boy felt uncomfortable, he did not know how to resist the man's advances and was afraid the man would not allow him to play games on the console if he "reacted in a way the man did not like".

In the instances where the boy rejected the man, the man would give the boy the cold shoulder, and the nine-year-old would have to beg to be allowed to play on the consoles.

Investigations revealed that between 2005 and 2006, the man sexually abused the boy multiple times in his lorry and in his home.

He had also taken polaroids of the boy lying naked in bed, which the boy would ask to be discarded afterward.

Victim felt shame

About three years later, around 2008 or 2009, the victim became aware that what the man was doing was wrong.

He kept his silence, feeling ashamed and fearing that nobody would believe him.

On top of that, the victim knew that his father had borrowed money from the man and was afraid it would make things awkward between the two adults, ST wrote.

Throughout the years, the victim would have nightmares about what happened and was eventually diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

20 years later, the victim, now 30, ran into the man again, triggering memories of the abuse.

He decided to report the abuse to the police on Jun. 30, 2024.

There was another victim who was seven years old at the time, according to Shin Min.

Sought leniency due to wife's age

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jonathan Tan told the court that the man had lost track of the number of times he had touched the victim, owing to the time that had passed.

In court, the 72-year-old man sought leniency, sharing that his wife was aged, suffered from hearing impairment and depended on his care.

She would also be left without help at the market stall if he went away, the man told the court via a translator, Shin Min reported.

The judge told the man that, despite the time that had passed, the offences he committed were serious.

The man pled guilty to three out of the ten charges he faced, and the rest of the charges were considered by the judge during sentencing, Shin Min wrote.

The man was given two years' jail on Sep. 2.

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