A former youth programme coordinator was jailed a year and eight months on Wednesday for touching the private parts of a 14-year-old girl.
Cheng Chin Shen, 31, was then working for a non-profit voluntary welfare organisation that caters to the development of children and teenagers.
He had pleaded guilty in December 2011. A district court heard then that the girl became a member in mid-2010 and visited the centre about thrice a week to study and play games with friends.
Cheng befriended her and kept in contact through online and phone messages. On Dec 26, 2010, they were chatting about sex-related matters on Facebook when she accepted his invitation to visit his flat the next day. The following morning, she met him at coffee shop near his Jurong West home and they had breakfast.
They then went up to his flat. There was no one home and he took her into his bedroom. Although she scolded him for placing his hand on her thigh and breasts, he persisted and managed to pull her shorts and panties down. He then touched her private parts.
The teen told some friends about what occurred and eventually the management of the centre came to know of it. When confronted, Cheng admitted his wrongdoing and was sacked.
The girl, now 16 years old, cannot be identified as she is a victim of a sexual offence.
Asking the court to impose a deterrent sentence, deputy public prosecutor Ramesh Ethan Ananda said that Cheng had abused his position at the centre.
Cheng, who is about 1.6m tall and plump, shook his head when the sentence was passed. He could have been jailed up to 10 years or fined up to $10,000, or to both, for the offence.
Source: ST Online
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