Drama Centre art on the wall Circa 2003

Pregnancy Crisis Service

Tel: (65) 339 9770

Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat: 9am - 5pm

Tue, Thu: 9am - 9pm

For unmarried mothers & mothers-to-be

Teenage Pregnancies     Abortion

A national serviceman was on 6 May 2004 jailed for six months for having sex with a 11-year-old girl in 2002. Chan Chaing Hee, 19, met the girl in September 2002. The girl, now in secondary one, is believed to be the youngest involved in such a case here. She became pregnant and was admitted to a hospital where the foetus was aborted in May 2003. (Straits Times 8 May 2004) (3)

The Ministry of Education (MOE) made it clear yesterday that it backed Kent Ridge Sec School's principal's decision to report to the police when the school found out some students had been viewing porn VCDs. However, MOE said the school should have "handled the situation better". The principal, Miss Chamb Cherk Ing made a police report on 9 Feb 2004. (Straits Times 18 Feb 2004) (H6)

A Sec 2 schoolboy was caught with a porn VCD in class on 6 Feb 2004. Subsequently, 17 schoolboys were detained in school for questioning. The school has made a police report. (Straits Times 1 Feb 2004) (H8)

A teenager was jailed for four months and fined S$20,000 for having sex with a 15-year-old girl, a secondary 3 student. Chua Kok Tiong, 17, of Geylang Serai Vocational Training Centre, had been sentenced by the Juvenile Court and placed on probation for a similar offence with another girl. (Straits Times 21 Sep 2003 19)

A survey based on face-to-face interviews with 510 young Singaporeans aged 15 and above found nine in 10 of those aged 15 to 19 were confident about the road ahead for Singapore. The figure was eight in 10 for those in their 20s. The survey was conducted in July 2003 by Singapore Press Holdings' marketing, planning and development department. (Straits Times 8 Aug 2003 4)

  A young serial robber had his jail term increased from 9½ years to 14 years on appeal. Secondary school dropout Jerrick CHEN Weixiong, 17, will also receive 24 strokes of the cane. CHEN had chalked up 45 offences in just a few months. He went around with accomplices robbing school children of their mobile phones and bashing them up if they did not give them up easily. (Straits Times 2 Apr 2003)(H2)

  Results of a survey of 5,853 students, aged 13 to 17, from nine schools polled by the Northeast Community Development Council (CDC) and Fei Yue Counselling Centre, showed that five out of every 100 secondary school students said they had been "forced" to have sex. 259 students said someone had tried to get them to have sex in the past 12 months, and 83 gave in. (Straits Times 27 Mar 2003)(H9)

  A computer programmer was jailed for three years and nine months after he pleaded guilty on Tuesday to three charges of having sex with a minor. Rickson Chua Chin Gee met the 15-year-old girl through an Internet chatroom sometime in April 2002. (Straits Times 20 Mar 2003) (H4)

  A man who used an Internet chatroom to find young girls to rape was yesterday sentenced to 23 years' jail and the maximum 24 strokes of the cane. Raymond POK, 26, posed as a teenager and lured three girls, two aged 14, and one aged 13, into his trap. (Straits Times Wednesday 5 Feb 2003) (4)

  A 15-year-old schoolboy who raped his cousin, 6, at her home while her mother was watching television in another room is now in remand and will appear before the Juvenile Court again on 25 Feb 2003. (Straits Times 21 Jan 2003)(H3)

  A 14-year-old boy was knocked down by a taxi on Tuesday in Jurong. CHEN Wei Liang, who celebrated his birthday the previous day, is in critical condition with brain injuries, said a spokesman for National University Hospital (NUH) where he is in intensive care. (Straits Times 21 Nov 2002) (H4)

  Teenage girls outnumber boys in the use of ketamine, a synthetic drug. The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) arrested 15 girls aged 15 - 19 in 2001, compared to 13 boys in that age group. At least three young ketamine users have committed suicide this year. In statistics released by the CNB yesterday, the number of first-time ketamine abusers arrested in the first half of this year was 52 per cent higher than the same period last year. The number held for Ecstasy dipped by 6 per cent. The number of people arrested for abusing methamphetamine in the first half of this year has tripled, compared to the same period last year. The number jumped from 83 to 255. (Straits Times 6 Nov 2002) (3)

  A serial molester who preyed on teenage girls in Bishan lifts was yesterday jailed for six years. He will also be given 12 strokes of the cane.  GOH Kim Meng, 27, a senior air force technician, molested five girls, between 13 and 16 years old, over a period of three months in the area where he lives. (Straits Times 25 Oct 2002) (H4)

  Two 16-year-old students of Gan Eng Seng school were charged yesterday with setting fire to school property. LEE Kok Leong and TAN Peng Lai are accused of using a lighter to burn newspapers and a computer mouse, with the intention of damaging three classroom desks on which the mouse was placed. Police are currently investigating their cases. (Straits Times 25 Oct 2002) (H4)

  Full-time NSman YEO Boon Shiong, 23, who is married, was sentenced to six years and nine months in jail after he pleaded guilty to two charges - of committing statutory rape and hurting a public servant. YEO had sex with a 13-year-old girl he had met on a telephone chatline in July 2002. The girl, who was afraid she might become pregnant, made a police report the next day to say she had been raped. (Straits Times 15 Oct 2002) (H5)

  A man who started molesting his 9-year-old step-daughter on the day his son was born was yesterday sentenced to 24-years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane. The 43-year-old mover was found guilty after a three-day trial on three charges of aggravated rape. The victim, who turned 13 this week, was abused for the first time on Aug 22, 1999, four months after the man became her step-father. (Straits Times 25 Sep 2002) (H3)

  Tattoo shops here are registered like beauty centres, but are not regulated by health authorities. There are also no age restrictions, unlike in some countries where the minimum age to have a tattoo done ranges from 16 to 21. The Health Ministry here steps in only if it receives a complaint. There are about 30 tattoo shops here. (Straits Times 23 Sep 2002) (H7)

  A 13-year-old boy who had part of his hand chopped off underwent an operation last night to have it reattached. Police said part of his left hand, with four fingers and part of his palm, was found lying on the ground at the void deck of Blk 655 in Woodlands Ring Road. Witnesses said they had seen six boys running in different directions from the block. No weapons were found at the scene and the police are investigating. (Straits Times 20 Sep 2002) (6)

  Anglo-Chinese School principal NG Eng Chin, 43, has been reinstated to his post by the school's board of governors. The board had unanimously cleared him of all allegations of improper behaviour while counselling a teenage boy last year. The boy's mother had alleged he had molested the boy during late-night counselling sessions held at various places, including the beach. The Education Ministry has accepted the inquiry panel's conclusion and its recommendation that Mr NG be reinstated. Straits Times 3 Sep 2002) (3)

  Singapore's war on smoking enters a new phase as two proposals are being put before Parliament to ban the sale here of packs of cigarettes containing less than 20 cigarettes. Health authorities are especially concerned that the number of female smokers between the ages of 18 and 24 has gone up from 6 per cent in 1998 to 8 per cent in 2001, even though the national smoking rate dipped to 14 per cent last year from 18 per cent a decade ago. (Straits Times 3 Sep 2002) (1)

  Five boys, aged between 11 and 14, have been arrested after washing powder was dumped into the water tank on the rooftop of Block 124 Paya Lebar Way on Monday afternoon. Following complaints by residents, a plumber dispatched by the town council found two 1 kg packets of washing powder, both half-emptied, near the two water tanks on the rooftop. Town council staff then flushed out the down-feed pipes so that residents could get clean water from the second tank. (Straits Times 28 Aug 2002) (H8)

  A teenager who took his mother's BMW for a post-midnight joyride and crashed into a police car was yesterday placed on 18 months' probation. Dick WANG Liang Fu, then 15, drove the automatic car to meet two friends at Sembawang Sports Club on Upper Thomson Road at 1.20am on Dec 19, 2001. District Judge TAN Puay Boon yesterday ordered that he stay at home between 10pm and 6am and that he do 100 hours of community service. The boy's parents also signed a S$5,000 good behaviour bond. (Straits Times 26 Jul 2002) (H13)

  A man who forced his 13-year-old daughter to masturbate him and succumb to him sexually at knifepoint will be sentenced on June 24. The man, who cannot be named because it would reveal his daughter's identity, molested the girl, now 14, seven times in their Sengkang flat during the first three months of this year while his wife was working on the night shift. (Straits Times 4 Jun 2002) (3)

  Singapore Youth Tobacco Survey 2000, the first survey of 13,111 Secondary 1 to 4 students to find out the prevalence of underage smoking, has found that one in four still managed to sneak a puff at least once. Of those who took a puff, 11.1 per cent are considered smokers as they lit up at least once in the past month before the survey. This includes 2.4 per cent who smoke daily. More girls are picking up smoking: 13.4 per cent are boys and 8.8 per cent are girls. The survey also found that smokers are more likely to belong to families with at least one parent or elder sibling who smokes, or have close friends who smoke. The main reasons given for smoking are: curiosity or for fun, to follow the example of friends, or to relax and relieve stress. (Straits Times 2 Jun 200) (19)

  A first-year undergraduate at the National University of Singapore (NUS) was given a stiff 15-month jail term and three strokes of the cane yesterday for molesting a 13-year-old girl. CHONG Weien, 21, a part-time drum coach at a secondary school, was alone with the girl when he made her masturbate him. Statistics produced in court showed that there were 62 teenage molest victims between November 2001 and January 2002. Molestations of under-16s formed 20 per cent, or 17 out of 79 cases, in November 2001. This went up to 31 per cent, or 28 out of 91 cases, in January 2002. (Straits Times 4 Apr 2002) (H2)

  A father who disciplined his 13-year-old son by caning him repeatedly was yesterday jailed for eight months. The 51-year-old cane operator admitted assaulting the child, causing injuries, in May 2000 when they were living in Clementi. Deputy Public Prosecutor Imran A. Hamid said that the injuries were in excess of the accused's parental prerogative to discipline his child. (Straits Times 4 Apr 2002) (H2)

  A 14-year-old boy who touched a woman on the breast and asked his friends to lie about it will have to spend two years at Gracehaven, a residential home for troubled young people. He was found guilty by the Juvenile Court on Jan 16. The boy molested the 35-year-old sales assistant in Chai Chee on May 17 last year. (Straits Times 7 Mar 2002) (H9)

  The results of last year's GCE O-level examinations were released yesterday. Of the 33,512 candidates, 93.5 per cent obtained three or more passes and 80 per cent achieved at least 5 Os. The top three students came from Raffles Institution. (Straits Times 1 Mar 2002) (1)

  Sydney: An intense ethical debate is raging over a child psychologist's decision to allow a 15-year-old boy with terminal cancer to have sex with a prostitute before he died, without the knowledge of his parents. While psychologists in Australia have condemned the decision, the case has aroused considerable public sympathy too, the Telegraph of London reported. The report said the boy, without speaking to his parents, told staff at a Sydney hospital of his desire to lose his virginity. (Straits Times 25 Dec 2001) (9)

  Fourteen boys, aged 14 to 19, were charged in two separate courts yesterday with attacking schoolboy WONG Wei-En, 15, and his four friends at a bus-stop near a hawker centre in Circuit Road. They were accused of forming an unlawful assembly to cause hurt, and using a hammer and a knife during the alleged attack on the five boys, aged between 13 and 16. (Straits Times 19 Dec 2001) (H1)

  Police yesterday arrested 13 teenagers, aged between 14 and 19, yesterday after WONG Wei-En, 15, was savagely attacked with hammers on Saturday while riding an SBS bus with four friends. Police revealed that the five boys met the 13 youths at Blk 52 in Circuit Road to discuss an earlier assault involving Wei-En and a fellow schoolmate of Manjusri Secondary. Things turned sour and the 13 youths attacked the five boys who dashed across the road and boarded SBS Transit Service 135 at the bus-stop near Macpherson Primary School. (Straits Times 17 Dec 2001) (1) 

  A 14-year-old boy died yesterday after falling while attempting a bicycle stunt on an obstacle ramp set up at the Ngee Ann Civic Plaza for the Asian Xtour competition. The competition, organised by ESPN Starsports, involves stunts and tricks performed on online skates, bicycles and skateboards. The Montfort Secondary two student's family declined to be interviewed last night when approached by The Straits Times at their home in Hougang. (Straits Times 8 Dec 2001)(3) Read our editorial

  A 15-year-old secondary school student was caught with illegal Ecstasy and Erimin-5 pills when her school's discipline mistress took a look in her schoolbag. The secondary 3 girl, who is in the Express Stream, brought the drugs to school in April after buying them from a man who offered them to her at a discotheque. She was sentenced to a year's probation at the juvenile court and ordered to serve 80 hours of community service. Her mother, a widow, was with her in court. Contacted yesterday, the school's principal said the girl, who came from a working-class family, was not considered an "at risk" student. (Straits Times 29 Aug 2001) (H3)

  A first-year student at Catholic Junior College was yesterday sentenced to two years of probation, to perform 120 hours of community service and also to stay at home between 9pm and 6am after he pleaded guilty last month to hurting Cecil CHEN Pin Lin, 15, with a knife in an incident behind the Meridien Hotel at 10.15pm on 25 Nov 2000. The court heard that Sherman SOH Liang Wei, 16, and about 20 other youths began by taunting CHEN and four of his friends. SOH caught up with CHEN and grabbed him, then pressed a knife against his neck, leaving a 1-cm cut. (Straits Times 17 Aug 2001) (H8) 

  A 15-year-old boy, who together with a 14-year-old accomplice, used kerosene to set fire to two shoe racks and a discarded sofa and mattress in three different blocks in Toa Payoh between 1.15am and 1.50am on 13 Jun 2001, told a district court he started fires because he was "bored". The court heard that the boy had dyed his hair brown, smoked and listened to satanic music. He also has a tattoos with satanic images. The boy will spend the next two years in the Singapore Boys' Home. Probation was denied. (Straits Times 8 Aug 2001) (6)

  A teen chosen to train for the under-18 national soccer team had sex on several occasions with his girlfriend, who subsequently delivered a baby. The baby was put up for adoption. Mohamed Imran Mohamed Ali, 17, a student, yesterday admitted having sex three times with the 15-year-old girl at his Pasir Ris home in June, July and December 1999. District Judge F.G. Remedios postponed sentence to 12 Jul 2001, pending a probation report. (Straits Times 14 Jun 2001)

  A teenager was fined S$9,000 after he pleaded guilty to surfing the Internet at his company's expense by using its Internet account illegally. A district court heard that between August and December 1999, Travis Joseph Keejin De Souza, 18, accessed the Web at home using the user identification and password of a Best Denki store's Net account. At the time, he was a sales promoter with the electrical goods store at East Point shopping centre in Simei. (Straits Times 6 Jun 2001)

  Nine out of 10 juvenile offenders, arrested mostly for petty crimes such as shoplifting, never have to step inside a courtroom. Instead they must complete a six-month counselling and rehabilitation programme conducted by the Ministry of Community Development and Sports (MCDS), together with the police, schools and social-service agencies appointed by the MCDS. The Guidance Programme, which began in 1997, offers youths a chance to be let off with a stern warning instead of a sentence. A total of 941 youths, who were all arrested for the first time, have since benefited from it - 87% of them were aged between 10 and 15, and about 60% of them were male. 90% of them had shoplifted, said Miss ANG Bee Lian, director of MCDS' rehabilitation and protection programme. (Straits Times 29 May 2001)

  Last year, 1,455 underaged smokers were caught puffing on a cigarette. And for selling cigarettes to teens under the age of 18, six retailers were prosecuted. The legal age for smoking in Singapore is 18. Those caught in the act will be fined S$50 the first time, and up to S$100 for second and subsequent offences. Under the law, those caught buying cigarettes for teens will be fined S$2,500. Those who give tobacco products to teenagers will be fined S$500. The penalties are doubled for subsequent offences. (Straits Times 6 May 2001)