SINGAPORE: A man who is not an accredited religious teacher took two young boys from a broken family into his fold, but raped the younger one at least 10 times and molested the older one.
It left the boys, then aged six to eight and 11 to 12, suicidal and made the close brothers drift apart.
The 37-year-old Singaporean man, who was married at the time of the offences, was sentenced on Monday (Aug 17) to 27 years and 10 months’ jail and 24 strokes of the cane.
He was diagnosed with paedophilic disorder, but this had no contributing link to the offences, the court heard.
The man cannot be named due to gag orders protecting the victims’ identities.
He pleaded guilty to three charges of rape and two counts of molestation, with 12 charges taken into consideration.
THE CASE
The court heard that the man was never recognised as an Islamic or Quranic teacher under the Administration of Muslim Law at all times.
Before he hit on the two brothers, the offender had targeted another victim, who was 17 at the time. The pair met through mutual friends and became close after spending time together at a mosque and texting each other almost daily.
The offender acted as a big brother and religious mentor to the first victim.
However, during dinner at a restaurant in December 2021, the offender molested the victim during the meal, telling him “don’t worry” and that it was “not painful”.
The victim reported the case to the police that same month, and the offender was arrested and released on police bail.
Despite this, he went on to prey on the two young brothers. Their parents had divorced and they were under the care of their mother, but she was admitted to a drug rehabilitation centre.
The boys stayed with their grandmother between October 2021 and October 2023.
In April 2022, at an unnamed mosque, the older brother chanced upon the offender and recognised him from social media.
The boy was around nine to 10 years old when he introduced himself to the offender, and they later spent time together and grew close.
The offender would take the boy to play football with his friends, and also to his home.
As the boy grew closer to the offender, he confided in the older man about his family and how his father had abandoned them.
The boy told his grandmother about the offender and she invited the man over so that she could assess him in person. She found him to be very religious.
The man regularly put up social media videos mainly touching on religion, and the grandmother saw the online posts for herself.
After learning that he was also a childhood friend of her sons, she came to trust him.
The man grew even closer to the boy and took him to school daily.
He began visiting the victim’s grandmother’s flat, occasionally taking his wife along.
Over time, he also got to know the younger brother, began to spend time with him and became close to him.
He took the boy to the mosque for prayers, played with him, fetched him from school and took him out to eat.
The offender told the boys’ grandmother that he would like to be a father figure and religious guide to the boys, since their parents were absent and he had no children.
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