Jail, caning for repeat offender who had sex with 3 underage girls

SINGAPORE – A recalcitrant offender, with a history of sexual offences involving vulnerable victims going back to 2017, has been sentenced to jail and caning over sex crimes involving three underage girls.

One of the victims in the current case, a deaf-mute 12-year-old, was warded at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) when he committed statutory rape against her.

Muhamed Khairil Kapalee, 20, was sentenced on Nov 10 to seven years’ jail and six strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to sexually penetrating two of the other victims. They were 14 and 15 years old at the time.

He also admitted to a statutory rape charge involving the 12-year-old girl, who has a history of severe global developmental delay and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Seven other charges for offences including theft, were considered during his sentencing.

Deputy public prosecutors Chong Kee En and Wayde Chan stated in court documents that Khairil has a “deeply problematic history” of engaging in sex with underage girls, many of them very vulnerable.

In 2020, he was sentenced to probation after committing serious sexual offences against vulnerable victims from 2017 to 2019.

He completed his two-year probation in August 2022, only to re-offend the following year.

The DPPs said that although he had been diagnosed with mild intellectual disability, he was found to have maturity that is normative for his age at the time of the current offences.

Khairil was 18 when he got to know the first victim in the latest case through Telegram on Dec 7, 2023.

He started an online relationship with the girl, who was then 14 years old.

On Dec 9, 2023, he had unprotected sex with her near Jalan Besar Stadium, after she ran away from her home.

When Khairil noticed that the girl’s mother was tracking her location through her phone, he threw the device down a rubbish chute.

But her relatives later managed to track her down. They confronted him and the police were alerted. Officers interviewed him on Dec 21, 2023.

In January 2024, he met the second victim via Telegram.

The victim, who was 15, was a resident of a home for vulnerable and abused children at the time. Khairil had unprotected sex with her at a carpark later that month.

The home found out about the offence, and he was interviewed by the police again in February 2024.

He met his third victim, the 12-year-old, via mutual friends in August 2024.

The following month, she was warded at KKH for a suspected bacterial infection.

Khairil visited her, and they engaged in sexual activities in a handicapped toilet at the ground floor of the hospital.

Police arrested Khairil on Sept 25, 2024, and he was charged two days later. He has been in remand since then.

The 12-year-old victim was later seen at the Child Guidance Clinic of the Institute of Mental Health in May 2025.

The DPPs said: “(She) reported feeling sad, scared and angry and disgusted since the incident and experiencing insomnias, nightmares and recurrent thoughts of (it).”

Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.