Public Prosecutor v Goh Jun Guan

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Woo Bih Li J
• Judgment Date: 06 January 2017
• Neutral Citation: [2017] SGHC 2
• Court: High Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: Criminal Case No 2 of 2016
• Year: 2017
• Published date: 26 September 2017
• Hearing Date: 18 November 2016,31 March 2016
• Plaintiff Counsel: Charlene Tay Chia, Sruthi Boppana and Rajiv Rai (Attorney-General's Chambers)
• Defendant Counsel: Richard Lim (Richard Lim & Co)
• Subject Matter: Criminal Procedure and Sentencing,Sentencing,Benchmark sentences
• Citation: [2017] SGHC 2

Woo Bih Li J: Introduction

The accused, Goh Jun Guan (“Goh”) committed multiple sexual offences against ten boys aged between ten and 15 at the material time and over a span of some three years. Goh was between the age of 23 and 25 when he committed the offences.

On 18 November 2016, Goh pleaded guilty to the following nine charges: two counts of sexual penetration of a minor (causing a boy below the age of 14 to fellate him) under s 376A(1)(a) and punishable under s 376A(3) of the Penal Code (Cap 224, 2008 Rev Ed); three counts of sexual penetration of a minor (fellating a boy below the age of 14) under s 376A(1)(c) and punishable under s 376A(3) of the Penal Code; two counts of committing an obscene act with a child under s 7(a) of the Children and Young Persons Act (Cap 38, 2001 Rev Ed) (“CYPA”); and two counts of procuring a child to commit an obscene act under s 7(b) of the CYPA.

After admitting to the Statement of Facts without qualification, Goh consented for the following 21 charges to be taken into consideration for the purposes of sentencing: two counts of sexual penetration of a minor (causing a boy below the age of 14 to fellate him) under s 376A(1)(a) and punishable under s 376A(3) of the Penal Code; four counts of sexual penetration of a minor (fellating a boy below the age of 14) under s 376A(1)(c) and punishable under s 376A(3) of the Penal Code; one count of committing an obscene act with a child under s 7(a) of the CYPA; ten counts of procuring a child to commit an obscene act under s 7(b) of the CYPA; three counts of transmitting obscene material to a person below the age of 21 under s 293 of the Penal Code; and one count of possessing obscene films under s 30 of the Films Act (Cap 107, 1998 Rev Ed).

Goh was arrested on 16 October 2014.

I convicted Goh of the nine charges and sentenced him as follows:

1st charge	Under s 376A(1)(c) and s 376A(3) of the Penal Code	Six years and three strokes of the cane.
3rd charge	Under s 376A(1)(a) and s 376A(3) of the Penal Code	Six years and three strokes of the cane.
5th charge	Under s 376A(1)(c) and s 376A(3) of the Penal Code	Six years and three strokes of the cane.
9th charge	Under s 376A(1)(a) and s 376A(3) of the Penal Code	Six years and three strokes of the cane.
12th charge	Under s 376A(1)(c) and s 376A(3) of the Penal Code	Six years and three strokes of the cane.
18th charge	Under s 7(b) of the CYPA.	Four months.
19th charge	Under s 7(a) of the CYPA.	Six months.
24th charge	Under s 7(a) of the CYPA.	12 months.
27th charge	Under s 7(b) of the CYPA.	Four months.

The sentence of imprisonment for the 1st charge was to commence from 16 October 2014. The sentences of imprisonment for the 5th and the 19th charges were to run consecutively after the sentence for the 1st charge. The rest of the sentences were to run concurrently with the sentence for the 1st charge.

The total number of years of imprisonment was 12 years and six months. The total number of strokes of the cane was 15.

The Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against my decision on sentencing.

For the purpose of protecting the identities of the victims, I will refer to them by number, eg, V1.

First information report

On 28 August 2014, V4 informed a Senior Investigation Officer Jereld Xu Jin Wei (“SIO Xu”) of the Criminal Investigation Department (“CID”) that he had been exchanging photos and videos of his private parts with one “Terry” via Facebook. During the course of investigations, SIO Xu discovered that V4 was communicating with “Terry” and that their communication was sexual in nature. “Terry” was later established to be Goh. SIO Xu thus lodged a First Information Report (“FIR”) dated 27 August 2014.

The case was referred to SIO Jakki Lim (“SIO Lim”) of Jurong Police Division and was classified as a case of ‘Sexual Exploitation of a Child’ under Section 7(a) of the CYPA.

Arrest and seizure

Pursuant to the FIR, on 16 October 2014, police officers went to Goh’s flat at Block 705 Jurong West Street 71, #05-90, Singapore (‘the Flat”) to arrest him. Goh granted the police officers access to his handphone, which was found to contain 41 photos of male genitalia, and two photos of oral sex. He was thus placed under arrest.

Police officers also seized Goh’s handphone and laptop for investigations. The laptop was not sent for forensic examination as nothing incriminating was found. However, the handphone was sent to the Technology Crime Forensic Branch of the CID for forensic analysis.

Goh’s initial admission

Goh was subsequently interviewed by officers from the Serious Sexual Crimes Branch. He revealed that he found it difficult to stop thinking about young boys in a sexual way. According to him, when he was about 12 years of age, he had realised that he was sexually attracted to boys aged between 11 and 14. However, he did not act on his perverse impulses until 2011. Thereafter, Goh had befriended young boys. He would tease them and talk to them about exchanging photos of each other’s genitalia.

Goh admitted that he had asked four or five boys to send him photos of their genitalia and exchanged photos of genitalia with two other boys. He also admitted to exchanging videos of himself masturbating with V4 and to having performed oral sex on three boys.

Background facts

Between 2012 and 2014, Goh committed sexual offences against not less than ten boys aged between ten and 15. Most of these offences involved the following sexual acts, all of which were performed without the protection of a condom: penetration of his victims’ mouths with Goh’s penis; penetration of Goh’s mouth with the victim’s penis; touching the genitalia of his victims; requesting that his victims send him photos of their genitalia or videos of them masturbating; and sending photos of his genitalia and videos of himself masturbating to his victims.

Goh admitted to asking young boys for photographs of their genitalia as he wanted to assess their reactions and whether they would have the courage to share such photographs. If the victims were willing to share such photographs, he would take it as an indication that the victims could be cajoled to allow him to touch them. He also stated that he was curious and wished to receive such photographs because each person’s genitalia looked different.

Facts pertaining to the 1st charge involving V1

V1 was ten years old at the time of the offence. Both V1 and Goh were avid ‘Vanguard’ players. ‘Vanguard’ is a type of trading card game that is extremely popular internationally. Players acquire cards in the form of box-sets and rare cards are often hidden in a small number of these box-sets. The objective of the game is to build a strong deck of cards in the form of a ‘clan’. In order to do so, players will have to purchase box-sets or trade cards. The foiling and artwork on ‘Vanguard’ cards is extremely detailed and distinctive, such that ‘Vanguard’ cards are much more attractive than those in other trading card games.

In 2013, V1 used to patronise a game shop at Jurong Point. V1 would go to a student care centre after school each day. Thereafter, he would proceed to the game shop and remain there until 7pm.

Sometime in May 2013, V1 became acquainted with Goh at the game shop. Goh had introduced himself as ‘Terry’ and informed V1 that he was 25 years old. Goh also asked V1 for his age. V1 informed Goh that he was nine years old and a primary four student. They lost touch thereafter.

A few months later, V1 met Goh at another game shop in Pioneer Mall. Goh had been working at the game shop and V1 had gone up to say hello to him. V1 had dinner with Goh and a few of Goh’s friends and Goh had walked V1 back home thereafter. After that day, Goh went to the game shop on a daily basis. He would play ‘Vanguard’ with V1 at the game shop and sometimes treat V1 to meals after their game.

Goh started to meet V1 more regularly and acknowledged V1 as his ‘younger god-brother’. During their meet-ups, he would tease V1 and ask V1 to show his genitals to him. V1 would reject the requests.

Sometime in December 2013, Goh suggested that they meet. V1 agreed. Goh sent an SMS to V1 to meet him at Jurong Point where they played ‘Vanguard’ at a game shop until about 7pm. Goh then informed V1 that his parents were going out and asked if V1 would like to go to his home so that they could continue playing ‘Vanguard’. V1 agreed and they took a bus to the Flat. This was the first time that V1 had gone to the Flat.

On entering the Flat, V1 noticed that no one was around. Goh cooked noodles for V1. Subsequently, Goh told V1 to go into his bedroom where there were two single beds. V1 noticed many ‘Vanguard’ cards lying all over the floor and helped to pack the cards. Thereafter, they played a few rounds of ‘Vanguard’.

In the midst of playing ‘Vanguard’, Goh took off V1’s shorts and underwear and started to fondle V1’s genitalia. Goh also used his mouth to fellate V1 for three to five minutes. V1 did not ejaculate. V1 told Goh that he did not want to do this anymore, in reference to the sexual acts that Goh had performed, whereupon Goh stopped. They then continued to play ‘Vanguard’. At about 10pm, Goh sent V1 home. V1 did not inform anyone about this incident as he was afraid.

Facts pertaining to the 3rd charge involving V1

V1 was ten years old at the time of the offence.

Following the first sexual encounter in December 2013, Goh continued to meet V1. On this particular occasion, which happened sometime on 5 June 2014, V1 had gone to the Flat. Goh had instructed V1 to perform fellatio on him and V1 complied. Goh also took a photograph of V1 fellating him.

Goh did not ejaculate inside V1’s mouth.

Subsequently, V1 went online to read up about...