Former army captain sentenced to jail for sexual acts against 15-year-old student
Chaw Chia Jun had been introduced to the victim by his former partner, a navy cook, and the trio engaged in sex acts at a car park.
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SINGAPORE: A former army captain was introduced to a 15-year-old student by his ex-partner, a cook in the navy, and the trio engaged in sex acts at a multi-storey car park.
Thereafter, the captain stayed in contact with the minor and met him for more sexual acts, filming them for his "personal collection".
Chaw Chia Jun, a 41-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced to 17 months' jail on Tuesday (Oct 20).
He pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual penetration of a minor, causing a minor to perform sexual penetration and producing child abuse material.
THE CASE
The court heard that Chaw was 39 at the time of the offences in 2024 and held the rank of captain in the Singapore Army.
His co-accused, 26-year-old Owen Toh Wei Song, was a cook with the Republic of Singapore Navy.
Chaw and Toh had been in a relationship between 2021 and 2022 and remained in contact after breaking up.
Around April 2024, the victim, a 15-year-old student in Secondary 4, conducted an internet search for ways to make friends online.
He came to an online forum for mature Singaporean gay men and found Toh's profile.
He initiated contact with Toh and they began discussing sexual topics. Toh said he was not experienced in a certain niche area but that Chaw was.
The victim agreed to meet Chaw, with Toh lying to the victim that Chaw was 32.
Sometime before Jun 5, 2024, Chaw picked Toh up before driving to fetch the victim.
They then went to a multi-storey car park in Punggol where Chaw asked the victim to strip.
Toh then engaged in sex acts with the victim, with Chaw filming.
Chaw performed a sex act on the victim and the trio later got dressed and left.
After the incident, Chaw sent a copy of the video to Toh at his request.
CHAW MET VICTIM AGAIN
Chaw later met the victim on his own on several occasions.
One such encounter took place at a shopping mall on Jun 5, 2024, where they entered a toilet for the disabled and engaged in sexual acts.
Chaw took two videos of the acts, one of which captured the victim's face.
Chaw kept the videos on his phone. He later said he made and kept recordings of his sexual activities with others in what he described as his "personal collection".
The victim's mother and sisters grew concerned about his behaviour as well as the gifts he had been receiving from a man, which turned out to be Chaw.
When confronted, the victim told his mother and sisters what had happened before lodging a police report on Oct 23, 2024.
Toh was sentenced to 12 months' jail last month.
SENTENCING ARGUMENTS
Deputy Public Prosecutor Maximilian Chew sought 17 to 21-and-a-half months' jail for Chaw, noting that the offence of sexual penetration of a minor exists to protect a class of vulnerable people - minors under 16.
Defence lawyer Mark Yeo from Fortress Law said his sentencing position of 14 to 17 months' jail was not far from the prosecutor's.
However, for the charge similar to Toh's, Mr Yeo said the sentence should be lower.
This is because Toh was the one who introduced Chaw to the victim and was the more active party in the car park incident, he argued.
The prosecution had argued that the car park incident involved "gratuitous degradation" as the victim was naked in the open.
Mr Yeo said the location had been selected "in discussion with the victim", and it was Toh who asked the victim to strip.
Toh himself also stripped naked, said Mr Yeo.
In his mitigation plea, Mr Yeo wrote that Chaw had served as a regular in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) for about 20 years since enlistment.
He has since left the SAF and works in a friend's company in a role related to the food and beverage sector, said the lawyer.
Mr Yeo said his client also met the victim to "enjoy each other's company" and have meals, walks or shop together.
He said his client "genuinely but mistakenly" believed that the victim was of age, but accepts that he should have verified this.
When the judge was about to pronounce sentence, Chaw wanted to speak but was told to do so through his lawyer.
Mr Yeo then told the court that Chaw wanted to highlight that the victim had lied about his age and sent over a fake photo of someone else in a Telegram chat.
District Judge Kenneth Chin acknowledged this but added that Chaw had not taken further active steps to ascertain the victim's age.
He said the objective of the offence was to protect minors from exploitation, regardless of whether the minor is an active participant or initiator.
"Absence of coercion is a neutral factor and is not a mitigating factor," said the judge.
He agreed with the defence that Toh had a slightly higher culpability than Chaw for their similar charge.
For sexual penetration of a minor, Chaw could have been jailed for up to 10 years, fined, or both.
For producing child abuse material, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined or caned.
In response to queries from CNA, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) said Chaw was suspended from all duties following his arrest in 2024.
"He has since been released from regular service and is no longer with the SAF," said the spokesperson.
MINDEF added that SAF holds its service personnel to high standards of discipline and integrity, and service personnel who commit offences will be dealt with in accordance with the law.
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