Man pretended to be gang leader, psychic to abuse 4 teenage girls

SINGAPORE — A 32-year-old man pretended to be a secret society leader and a psychic in order to con four teenage girls into performing sexual acts on him.

Simon Wong Choy Chuan also entered into relationships with three of the girls and came up with a roster to engage in sex acts with all four – who were aged 13 to 15 – during their weekly “gang meetings”. These sessions took place either at a HDB void deck or various multi-storey carparks.

Wong pleaded guilty at the State Courts on Monday (24 February) to four charges of sexually penetrating a minor under the age of 16.

Another 24 charges relating to sexual offences against the girls will be taken into consideration for his sentencing. The four girls cannot be named to protect their identities.

First victim recruited other three

At the time of the offences, Wong was 30 years old but had lied to the victims about his age. The Malaysian and Singapore permanent resident then worked part time at his mother’s maid agency.

He lied to the first victim that he was 21, after meeting the 15-year-old in August 2017 through a mutual friend on Facebook. The first victim was the mutual friend’s best friend.

The pair began dating a month later and he made her perform sexual acts on him.

In December 2017, Wong told the first victim to introduce more female friends to him. The first victim then introduced the second victim, 14, the third victim, 13, and the fourth victim, 14. He lied to these three girls that he was only 19 years old and that he was the second head of the “Omega Secret Society gang”.

“He did this as he knew that young girls were gullible and he wanted the victims to fear him so that they would not dare to report him to the police,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Chee Ee Ling.

Wong asked all four girls to join his gang and to pay him $10 on a daily basis as membership fees in return for protection against bullying in school. In total, he earned about $130 from the victims in this manner.

He also made the first victim teach her friends how to perform sexual acts. While initially reluctant, the first victim eventually did so as she did not want anger Wong as her boyfriend and a head of the secret society.

To add to his ruse, Wong also pretended to have psychic abilities and predicted that the fourth victim would experience “ill fortune” if the second victim did not perform the sexual act on him.

Wong later asked the second and fourth victims to be his girlfriends so that they would perform the sexual acts willingly.

He then came up with a weekly roster for the sexual acts and met the victims at least once a week at either the void deck of a HDB block in Ang Mo Kio or multi-storey carparks located in Jalan Teck Whye and Canberra Road.

In January, the third victim was made to perform oral sex on Wong at a multi-storey carpark along Canberra Road. After this occasion, she continued meeting the group for about a week before cutting off all contact with Wong.

She lodged a police report on 14 February 2018 after becoming concerned for her safety. Wong had been calling her phone and demanding that she attend the group’s meetings.

Victims assessed to have low intelligence

The victims were sent for psychiatric assessments and revealed how they were affected by the incident.

According to the reports, the second victim failed nearly all her school subjects in 2018 and her mother felt that this was due to the stress from the police case.

She would tear up when asked to recall the incidents and blamed herself, saying that she was “very dumb”. The girl was assessed to be functioning within the low average range of intelligence.

“She only realised these acts were wrong after she received sex education in school. She became emotionally distressed and had suicidal thoughts,” said DPP Chee.

The third victim, who was assessed to have low average intelligence, tries to forget her past with Wong and the fourth said she had not wanted to engage in the sexual activities with Wong but did not dare to make a police report.

The first victim was assessed to function in the extremely low range of intelligence.

The prosecution called for a corrective training report for Wong based on his history of sexual offences committed upon minors.

In 2007, he had consensual sex with his then-15-year-old girlfriend and received 12 months’ probation.

In 2013, Wong was jailed six-and-a-half years and caned six strokes for sexually abusing minors aged between 12 and 15. He was 25 at the time.

Wong had applied a similar tactic by getting to know his victims through mutual acquaintances. He then convinced them that he was easily possessed and threatened them into having sex.

Fearing reprisal, the victims gave in to his requests, said DPP Chee.

Wong’s lawyer, Narkoorsha A K, said that while his client’s offences were “fairly egregious” and “not easy to mitigate for”, he had to be given credit for pleading guilty and sparing the victims the pain of testifying in court.

“My instructions are to ask for regular jail term,” said Narkoorsha. Unlike a jail term, there is no one-third remission for good behaviour under corrective training, which is given to repeat offenders.

Wong’s sentencing will take place on 20 March.

For sexual penetration of a minor under the age of 14, Wong faces up to 20 years jail, a fine or caning. For sexual penetration of a minor under the age of 16, he could be jailed up to 10 years, fined or both.

For sexual penetration of a minor under 16, he Wong could be jailed up to 10 years, fined or both.

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