Indian sentenced to 13-year jail, 12 strokes of cane in Singapore for sex with minor

A 31-year old Indian was sentenced to 13 years in jail and 12 strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to one charge of sexual assault of a minor and two charges of attempted statutory rape, according to a media report.

Udhayakumar Dhakshinamoorthy, a minimart worker, courted a 12-year-old girl with gifts and called her his "wife", grooming her to engage in progressively intrusive sexual acts with him over a period of three months, reported The New Paper.

Four other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing at the High Court on Thursday.

The offence, which took place between September and



December 2016, came to light after the convict's pregnant adult girlfriend discovered a video of the naked minor girl on his phone.

In the sentencing, Judicial Commissioner Pang Khang Chau noted that Udhayakumar had exploited the innocence and naivety of the minor and morally corrupted her.

When Dhakshinamoorthy first asked the girl for sexual intercourse after taking her to the staircase of a block of flats, she told him that she was not sure what sex was, to which he responded that he would teach her.

Udhayakumar admitted that he tried to have sex with the girl on two occasions, but failed, according to The New Paper .