Repeat sex offender, 20, gets eight years’ jail and six strokes for sexually assaulting deaf 12-year-old in hospital toilet

A young man who repeatedly engaged in sexual acts with several underage girls, including sexually penetrating a 12-year-old girl with global developmental delay who is deaf and unable to speak in an accessible toilet at a hospital, was sentenced on Tuesday (10 November) to eight years’ jail and six strokes of the cane. The assault on the 12-year-old constituted statutory rape.

The accused, Muhamed Khairil Bin Kapalee, 20, worked first as a delivery worker and later as a cleaner around the time of the offences. He faced 10 charges, including statutory rape, sexual assault, theft and fighting. He pleaded guilty on Tuesday to three charges, with the remaining charges taken into consideration for sentencing.

The victims included three underage girls. One was just 12 and had global developmental delay and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. She is also deaf and unable to speak.

The court heard that the accused met the girl through a friend in August 2024 and later began chatting with her on social media. On 25 September that year, the girl was admitted to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital with a suspected bacterial infection. After seeing a photograph she had posted on social media showing her on an intravenous drip, he messaged her to ask how she was and visited her at the hospital that afternoon.

At 5.15pm, Khairil took the girl into an accessible toilet at the hospital, where he began kissing her before penetrating her with his fingers. He left the toilet with her only after she said her mother was coming to the hospital.

The court documents did not disclose how his offence came to light.

On 19 May 2025, the girl told a doctor at the Institute of Mental Health that she had felt sad, frightened and angry after the incident. She also had trouble sleeping and would recall what had happened from time to time.

In a separate incident, Khairil got to know a 15-year-old girl who lived in a shelter through Telegram on 17 January 2024. He arranged to meet her at a car park and had sexual intercourse with her. The shelter reported the matter to the police after learning that the girl had engaged in sexual activity with him.

The prosecution noted that the accused had a record of similar offences committed between 2017 and 2019, for which he was sentenced to 24 months’ probation in 2020. Including the current case, there were eight victims in total, several of whom were vulnerable.