SINGAPORE - A canteen stall operator plied an underage girl with alcohol before having sex with her.

Muhammad Azril Azman, 29, was sentenced to one year and three months' jail on Monday (Sept 3) after pleading guilty to two counts of sexually penetrating the girl, who was then 15 years old.

A third charge for a similar offence was taken into consideration during sentencing.

The girl cannot be named due to a gag order to protect her identity.

The court heard that the teenager and her two friends, who were also underage, went to Hotel Boss in Jalan Sultan for a staycation on Dec 29, 2016, but were not allowed to check in, as they were minors.

One of the victim's friends then contacted Azril, who agreed to help them .

He turned up at the hotel with alcoholic beverages at around 9pm and checked into a room.

The girls also made their way there and he prepared some alcoholic drinks which they consumed on the balcony.

The court heard that one of the victim's friends later passed out on a bed and the other left the room.

Azril and the victim remained on the balcony until around 11pm that day.

The pair later became intimate and she performed a sexual act on him. After that, they went into an en-suite bathroom, where he sexually penetrated her.

Azril left soon after, and on Jan 1 last year, the girl told her uncle about what happened in the hotel room. She alerted the police three days later.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Michael Quilindo told District Judge Edgar Foo that Azril and the girl did not know each other before the incident.

DPP Quilindo urged to court to sentence Azril to one year and three months' jail, stressing that the canteen stall operator had prepared alcoholic drinks for minors.

Azril was an adult who had taken advantage of the situation, said the DPP.

Defence lawyer Melvin Loh said that the victim and her family had forgiven Azril.

He is now out on bail of $10,000, and was ordered to surrender himself at the State Courts on Sept 17 to begin serving his sentence.

He could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined for each count of sexually penetrating a minor.