Ex-CEO won’t be caned in Singapore for sexual assault on son’s 9-year-old friend at Halloween sleepover

Former chief of multinational who was sentenced to 24 strokes and 14 years in jail last year is spared the cane due to back ailments

The unnamed man molested and performed oral sex on the victim as his son slept in a bed below

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The Supreme Court building in Singapore. Photo: Handout

Published: 6:28pm, 22 Oct 2019Updated: 8:36pm, 22 Oct 2019

A former chief executive of a multinational company has been certified unfit for caning in Singapore, two months after losing an appeal against his conviction and sentence for sexually assaulting his son’s nine-year-old friend during a Halloween sleepover in 2015.

The 49-year-old foreign national, who returned to the High Court in a wheelchair on Tuesday, was last year sentenced to 14 years’ jail and the maximum 24 strokes of the cane. He lost his appeal in August.

However, prison doctors found him unfit to be caned due to a lumbar spine fracture – stemming from a 2011 incident when he fell off an elephant in Thailand – and multilevel degenerative disc disease, which is an age-related ailment that can cause pain in the lower back, hips and legs.

The man, who is serving his jail time and cannot be named to protect his victim’s identity, turns 50 next week. Offenders who are above 50 cannot be caned by law.

He had been found guilty of two counts of sexual assault by penetration of a minor, and another count of aggravated molestation, in relation to the incidents in October 2015.