A 28-year-old man, Muhammad Mohamed Iqbal, pleaded guilty on Tuesday (May 21) to committing a sexual act with a girl who was aged 13 at the time at the staircase landing of a housing block.
Additionally, his mobile phone was found to contain 19 obscene video clips, some involving children.
Muhammad was visibly emotional while giving his guilty plea in court and sentencing submissions will be made at a later date after the outcome of another case expected in early June, according to the report.
DETAILS OF THE CASE :
The victim, whose identity is protected by a court gag order, first got to know Muhammad in 2020 through a Telegram chat group.
After starting a private conversation with her, he introduced himself as “Crimson”.
As they chatted, he began making sexually explicit comments to the victim, expressing a desire for her body and mentioning wanting to engage in sexual activity in a car. He also sent an unsolicited photo of his genitals to the victim, causing her discomfort.
As per the report, he began to make sexually inappropriate remarks to the victim by saying “liked her body” and “would like to have car sex” with her.
Following this, she removed the app from her phone and ceased communication with Muhammad.
In July 2021, the victim reinstalled the application and received an apology from him for his inappropriate behavior during their previous conversations.
Muhammad misled the victim by claiming to be an 18-year-old polytechnic student, fearing she would end their communication if she knew his true age. Eventually, they developed a friendship and started exchanging sexual messages.
They continued communicating and exchanging sexually inappropriate messages before meeting in person on the morning of Aug 20, 2021, when the sexual act took place at a staircase landing. Due to the heavy rain, they found shelter and Muhammad led her to a staircase landing on the top floor of an HDB block, where they proceeded to engage in oral sex, the report added.
A 47-year-old male American resident witnessed an obscene act from his house window and promptly called the police. Later that day, the victim’s mother informed her that a police report had been filed regarding the incident.
In response, the victim’s mother attempted to reach out to Muhammad through Telegram.
Feeling suspicious and betrayed, Muhammad confronted the victim, who denied lodging the report against him. He expressed his feelings of betrayal and subsequently removed his profile picture from Telegram and deleted his conversations with the victim.
Muhammad was apprehended on August 23, 2021, at around 8:30 pm.
Following his arrest, police discovered 19 obscene video clips on Muhammad’s mobile phone, nine of which depicted children engaged in sexual pose or activity. Muhammad admitted to downloading the videos for his own consumption.
Muhammad was visibly emotional while giving his guilty plea in court and sentencing submissions will be made at a later date after the outcome of another case expected in early June.
According to the report, Muhammad pleaded guilty in the High Court to one count of having oral sex with a minor and one count of possessing obscene videos of child abuse. Four additional charges of a similar nature will be considered during sentencing, which has been postponed to a later date.
For committing oral penetration of a child under 14, Muhammad could face a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in jail, fine, or caning. As for possession of child abuse material, he could be jailed for up to five years, fined, or caned.
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