Commercial sex with a minor below 18

In recent years, there has been an increase of cases which involved commercial sex with minors. The offence of having commercial sex with minors under 18 is found under Section 376B of the Penal Code:

“(1) Any person who obtains for consideration the sexual services of a person, who is under 18 years of age, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 7 years, or with fine, or with both.

(2) Any person who communicates with another person for the purpose of obtaining for consideration, the sexual services of a person who is under 18 years of age, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years, or with fine, or with both.

(3) No person shall be guilty of an offence under this section for any sexual services obtained from that person’s spouse.

(4) In this section, “sexual services” means any sexual services involving —

(a) sexual penetration of the vagina or anus, as the case may be, of a person by a part of another person’s body (other than the penis) or by anything else; or

(b) penetration of the vagina, anus or mouth, as the case may be, of a person by a man’s penis.”

An offender would not be able to escape liability by seeking commercial sex with a minor outside of Singapore as it constitutes a similar offence. Offenders will be charged under Section 376C of the Penal Code for committing commercial sex with a minor under 18 outside of Singapore:

“(1) Any person, being a citizen or a permanent resident of Singapore, who does, outside Singapore, any act that would, if done in Singapore, constitute an offence under section 376B, shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) A person who is guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable to the same punishment to which he would have been liable had he been convicted of an offence under section 376B.”

Mistake as to age does not provide as a valid defence for committing commercial sex with minors under 18, in or outside of Singapore. More often than not, social escorts who provide commercial sexual services would advertise themselves as to be above the age of 18. By doing so, potential customers will not be deterred by their age. It is in the onus of the customer to verify their age by checking their NRIC. This is provided under Section 377D of the Penal Code:

“(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3) and notwithstanding anything in section 79, a reasonable mistake as to the age of a person shall not be a defence to any charge of an offence under section 376A(2), 376B or 376C.

(2) In the case of a person who at the time of the alleged offence was under 21 years of age, the presence of a reasonable mistaken belief that the minor, who is of the opposite sex, was of or above —

(a) the age of 16 years, shall be a valid defence to a charge of an offence under section 376A(2); or

(b) the age of 18 years, shall be a valid defence to a charge of an offence under section 376B or 376C.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), the defence under that subsection shall no longer be available if at the time of the offence, the person charged with that offence has previously been charged in court for an offence under section 376A, 376B, 376C or 376E, or section 7 of the Children and Young Persons Act (Cap. 38) or section 140(1)(i) of the Women’s Charter (Cap. 353).”

=See also=
 * Section 377A of the Penal Code (Singapore)

=References=