Ex-army captain in Singapore jailed 17 months for sex with 15-year-old boy

Two Singaporean men lost their positions in the armed forces after they were convicted of having sex with a 15-year-old boy.

Former army captain Chaw Chia Jun, 41, was sentenced to 17 months’ jail on Tuesday, while his co-accused Owen Toh Wei Song, a former navy cook, was jailed for 12 months on September 22, according to CNA.

Singapore’s Ministry of Defence has confirmed that both were suspended after their arrest in 2024 and were no longer in the military.

“The Singapore Armed Forces holds its service personnel to high standards of discipline and integrity. Service personnel who commit offences will be dealt with in accordance with the law,” it said in a statement.

The court heard that the Secondary 4 student had contacted Toh, now 26, on Telegram after finding his profile on an online forum around April 2024. He told Toh he was a secondary school student about to take his N levels exams that year.

Both began discussing sexual topics, including niche acts. Toh said he was not experienced in the area but that his ex-boyfriend, Chaw, was and suggested all three meet, The Straits Times reported. Toh and Chaw were in a relationship between 2021 and 2022 but remained in contact after breaking up.

The teenager agreed. Two months later, Toh picked up Chaw and the teen and drove to a multi-storey carpark.

After parking the car on the empty uppermost deck, Toh asked the teen to strip and performed a sex act on him while Chaw filmed them on his phone. Chaw also undressed and asked the teen to perform a sex act on him. The teen refused but agreed to do it on Toh instead.

All three later got dressed and left. At Toh’s request, Chaw sent him a copy of the video.

Chaw continued meeting the teen after the incident. On one of the occasions, on June 5, 2024, they had sex in a disabled toilet at a shopping centre while Chaw videoed the act.

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He kept all the videos on his phone, later describing his record of sexual activities with others as his “personal collection”.

The acts came to light when the victim’s mother and sister grew concerned about his behaviour and the gifts he was receiving from an adult man. When they confronted him, he told them what had happened and lodged a police report on October 23, 2024.

On Tuesday, Chaw pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual penetration of a minor, causing a minor to perform sexual penetration and producing child abuse material. The maximum penalty for each offence is 10 years’ jail, a fine or both. The child abuse material charge also allows for caning.

Toh pleaded guilty last month to a charge of causing a minor to perform sexual penetration, with another two charges taken into consideration.

Chaw’s lawyer, Mark Yeo, said his client “genuinely but mistakenly” believed that the victim was of age. He also highlighted that the victim had lied about his age and sent a fake photo of someone else in a Telegram chat.

While acknowledging this, District Judge Kenneth Chin pointed out Chaw did not take further steps to ascertain the victim’s age.

It also did not matter whether the victim was an active participant or initiator, he added, as the objective of the offence was to protect minors from exploitation. “Absence of coercion is a neutral factor and is not a mitigating factor,” Chin said.