(Singapore Today Tuesday 27 February 2018)
10 years’ jail for basketball coach who sodomised 13-year-old boy
A boy plays basketball at Connaught drive. TODAY file photo
Updated 27 February, 2018
SINGAPORE – Slamming his actions as “reprehensible”, a District Judge (DJ) sentenced a basketball coach to 10 years in jail on Tuesday (Feb 27) for performing sex acts on a 13-year-old boy in 2013.
Pointing out that the coach, who was convicted of two counts of sexual penetration, had exploited the boy’s innocence, DJ Mathew Joseph noted that sexual abuse cases are “always disconcerting and troubling when the victims are very young”.
“Courts will be vigilant and ever ready to send a clear signal to all potential sexual offenders who abuse their positions of trust that they will face severe sentences,” said DJ Joseph, who delivered the verdict following a five-day trial that took place over five months last year.
The 57-year-old coach, who cannot be named to protect the victim’s identity, is appealing against both his conviction and sentence, and was offered bail of S$30,000. He could have been jailed up to 20 years and fined, but he cannot be caned as he is above 50.
During the trial, it was revealed that the victim was one of a few students who went to the coach’s condominium for personal training. The accused was a part-time basketball coach in secondary school and community centres when the offences took place. He also held a full-time job as a director in a family-run business.
On the day of the incident, which took place in July or August 2013, the victim testified that he had completed a set of jumping exercises when the coach carried him to the bed and sodomised him. The victim is now a 17-year-old polytechnic student.
On another occasion, the coach covered the boy’s eyes with a pillow and performed oral sex on him.
The court heard that the coach started to pay extra attention to the victim after he entered secondary school and joined the basketball team that year. He bought him a pair of basketball shoes, drove him from school to his condominium for one-on-one coaching, and invited him on fishing trips.
It was only in February 2015 that the incidents came to light. After reading about HIV online, the victim asked his mother to accompany him to a medical examination as he was worried that he had contracted the virus. That was when he told his mother about his encounters with the coach.
A police report was subsequently filed, where the victim admitted that there was a relationship “going on” between the coach and him. A medical examination found no signs of penetration due to the lapse of time between the offence and the check-up.
Taking issue with the delayed reporting, defence lawyer Ragbir Singh Bajwa noted in his submissions that there was no evidence that his client had sodomised the victim.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Gail Wong rebutted that the victim remained silent as he was unaware that the coach’s actions were improper.
Describing the personalised training at the coach’s house as “dodgy”, Ms Wong added that the “prosecution invites the court to draw the reasonable inference that the accused used the training as a bait for young students like the victim to go to his home, which was a place over which he had control, and there was then every opportunity for the accused to violate unfortunate young students like the victim.”
The coach is facing two other charges relating to the alleged sexual exploitation of another 13-year-old boy that took place in 2014, where he had purportedly rubbed his body against the boy’s back and kissed his forehead. The coach is claiming trial for the charges.