A 22-year-old woman in Singapore has been sentenced to 24 months' probation and 150 hours of community service on Monday for performing sexual acts on a girl who was 12 or 13 years of age at the time, as reported by the Straits Times and Channel NewsAsia websites respectively today.
The older woman had pleaded guilty on March 16 to two counts of committing an obscene act with a child. The student – who was 20 at the time – performed the acts on the girl with her consent in 2008 and 2009. The woman was not identified in media reports to protect the girl's identity.
According to media reports, the pair became acquainted through the girl's schoolmate in November 2007 and started a relationship about two months later.
The pair was found out after the girl's mother learnt of their relationship and made a police report.
The student's lawyer Paul Tan was quoted in the Straits Times as saying that this was a story of two young lovers involved in a mutually loving and affectionate relationship, and not a case of an adult preying on an innocent child.
Under the law, the older woman could have been fined up to S$5,000 and/or jailed for up to two years on each charge. She has however agreed to perform 150 hours of community service, and has to remain indoors from 11pm to 6am while under probation, and attend "classes on healthy sexuality and responsible sexual conduct", as reported by the Straits Times. Her parents have to post a bond of S$4,000 to ensure her good behaviour.