SINGAPORE: A 20-year-old man admitted on Tuesday (Nov 19) to sexually exploiting a 15-year-old girl whom he had contacted through the digital platform Carousell under the guise of offering her a job.

Iqmal Haziq Othman pleaded guilty to three charges under the Children and Young Persons Act, with another two charges taken into consideration for sentencing. The victim cannot be named due to a gag order.



Sometime in November 2018, the victim, now 16, made a post on marketplace platform Carousell, looking for a part-time job.

Intending to have sex with the victim, Iqmal initially contacted her to tell her that he had an administrative job for her.

He then told the girl that he would pay her S$100 to show her naked body to him, and S$800 to have sex with him, though he was aware that the victim was 15 years old at that time. She did not agree to have sex, but took up his offer of S$100 to show her naked body to him.

On Nov 16, 2018, the girl went to his flat and Iqmal brought her into his bedroom. Iqmal instructed the victim to sit on the bed and undress herself. He undressed himself as well and proceeded to touch the girl’s body.



Subsequently, he offered to pay her for further sexual acts, which the victim agreed to.

Iqmal had also secretly recorded videos of the acts with his mobile phone, without the girl’s knowledge.

On Dec 12, 2018, Iqmal contacted the girl through the social media platform Instagram, with the intention of trying to meet a second time to engage in sexual acts again.

He pretended to be someone else and told the victim that he had seen a sexual video of her online. He told her that he was trying to help her.

When the girl asked him if there was a way to remove the video, Iqmal told her that he had spent S$100 to purchase the video from the original owner, but the girl had to have sex with him before he would delete the video.

As she refused, he negotiated by asking for other sexual acts. She continued to resist his advances and eventually lodged a police report on the advice of her family members on Dec 19, 2018.

Iqmal pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual exploitation of a child or young person.

The judge called for probation and reformative training reports and adjourned sentencing to Nov 26.



The penalties for sexual exploitation of a child or young person are maximum five years' jail, up to S$10,000 fine, or both for first-time offenders.