Khushwant Singh (The Straits Times), The Asia News Network, Singapore | Fri, 02/10/2012 6:11 AM
Chang was sentenced to three months in prison for having sex with a 16-year-old prostitute who had told him she was 19. (Wong Kwai Chow/The Straits Times/Asia News Network)She claimed to be 19 years old. But Peter Gerard Chang Liang Chieh suspected that the teenage prostitute was lying.
He asked to see her passport, but when she made an excuse, he went ahead and had sex with her anyway.
On Thursday, Chang, 43, was jailed for three months after the court heard that she was actually 16.
The bachelor, who runs his own computer business, met the Vietnamese teen in May last year. At the time, she was working as a freelance hostess at a bar in Joo Chiat.
She said she would charge him $100 for 'short time sex'. When he asked her age, she told him she was 19.
They booked into a nearby hotel. She noticed that he looked tired and was sweating profusely. He was unable to have sex, but gave her $100 anyway.
They met again by chance at a coffee shop in Joo Chiat on May 25. In the taxi to her lodging house in Geylang, she again told him she was 19.
He asked for her passport, but she said she had given it to a friend to buy an air ticket. Chang did not pursue the matter, and they went on to have sex in her room.
He was caught after the police raided the lodging house.
Defense lawyer Jason Dendroff said that his client deserved leniency as the prostitute had not been truthful about her age.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ramesh Ethan Ananda replied that the law expects mature men to be vigilant and restrained in order to protect young, vulnerable girls.
'This explains why the defence of mistake as to age does not apply to accused persons who are above 21 years old,' he added.
The court ordered that the girl's name not be published.
In Singapore, it is illegal to have paid sex with anyone under the age of 18.
For having sex with an underage prostitute, Chang could have been jailed for up to seven years, fined up to $10,000, or both.
