Kevin Tan Jia Hut, aged 28, pleaded guilty on June 9, 2026, to one charge of raping a 13-year-old girl and was sentenced to eight years and nine months in jail along with six strokes of the cane [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
Tan was 25 when the offences occurred in 2023. He met the victim through an online video-conferencing platform in May 2023 that anonymously paired users one-on-one. Their conversations turned sexual and shifted to Telegram, where they arranged to meet [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
In June 2023, Tan met the girl near her home at the stairwell of an HDB block, where she performed a sexual act on him. In early July, the victim expressed her wish to have sex, prompting Tan to arrange taxis to bring her to his home for sexual intercourse [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
Two days after the July encounter, the victim's mother reported to police that her daughter said she had been raped. The victim informed police of sexual encounters with multiple men, leading to Tan's arrest on August 10, 2023 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
The prosecution sought a sentence of nine to nine and a half years' jail plus six strokes of the cane, emphasizing deterrence. Deputy Public Prosecutors Nicholas Wuan and Mavis Ng said, "The sentence imposed must give proper expression to the foremost sentencing consideration of deterrence." They also rejected claims that the offence was "youthful folly" [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
Under Singapore law, sexual intercourse with girls under 14, even with consent, is treated as rape, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a fine, or caning [1, 2, 4, 5].
Tan's defence lawyer asked for leniency, citing his youth at the time, clean record during bail, completion of studies, and steady employment until his guilty plea [3].
Separately, another man, Huang Weiguang, 26, received a sentence of nine and a half years' jail and six cane strokes for offences against the same victim [3].
Tan’s sentencing closed the case against him three years after the offences. The court ruling was delivered on June 9, 2026 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
