Singapore legislation
Section 145
Section 145
Causing or encouraging prostitution of, girl below the age of 18 or sexual penetration with, or indecent assault on, girl below the age of 16
(1)
Any person who causes or encourages the prostitution of a girl below 18 years of age, or the commission of unlawful sexual penetration of or an indecent assault on, a girl below 16 years of age, being in either case a girl for whom that person is responsible, shall be guilty of an offence.
(1A)
A person who is guilty of an offence under subsection (1) shall be liable on conviction —
to a fine not exceeding $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both; but(b)where the person is a repeat offender, to a fine not exceeding $150,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years or to both.
(1B)
A person is a repeat offender in relation to an offence under subsection (1) if the person has been convicted or found guilty (whether before, on or after 7 August 2020) on at least one other earlier occasion of an offence under subsection (1).
(2)
Where a girl has become a prostitute, or has engaged in unlawful sexual penetration, or has been indecently assaulted, a person is deemed for the purposes of this section to have caused or encouraged it, if the person knowingly allowed her to consort with or to enter or continue in the employment of, any prostitute or person of known immoral character.
(3)
The persons who are to be treated for the purposes of this section as responsible for a girl are (subject to subsection (4)) —
any person who is her parent or legal guardian;
any person who has actual possession or control of her, or to whose charge she has been committed by her parent or legal guardian or by a person having the custody of her; and
any other person who has the custody, charge or care of her.
(4)
In subsection (3) —
Definition
“legal guardian”, in relation to any girl, means any person who is for the time being her guardian, having been appointed according to law by deed or will or by order of a court of competent jurisdiction;
Definition
“parent”, in relation to any girl, does not include a person deprived of the custody of her by order of a court of competent jurisdiction but (subject to that), in the case of a girl who has been adopted under the Adoption of Children Act 1939, or any enactment thereby repealed, means her adopters and, in the case of a girl who is illegitimate (and has not been so adopted), means her mother and any person who has been adjudged to be her putative father.
(5)
If, on a charge of an offence against a girl under this section, the girl appears to the court to have been below 16 or 18 years of age (as the case may be) at the time of the offence charged, she shall be presumed for the purposes of this section to have been so, unless the contrary is proved.