Singapore national Terence Thaver, a serial sexual predator with a history of preying on children dating back to 1999, has once again been convicted. The 60-year-old, who has spent a third of his adult life behind bars, pleaded guilty on August 11 to three charges involving two victims. This marks his fourth conviction for similar offences, according to reports.
Thaver’s recent offences came to light after he molested an eight-year-old boy in September 2023. He had befriended the child over a game of chess, which they played frequently at the common corridor outside the boy’s flat.
The boy told his mother about the incident the very next day, and a police report was filed. Thaver was arrested and has been in remand since. This happened despite him having been given a conditional warning by the police in August 2022. He breached the conditions of this warning when he committed the 2023 offence.
The other charges he pleaded guilty to were for the sexual assault of a man, now 26, when he was just nine years old in 2007. The victim reported the incidents to the police in 2021. The court was told that from 2007 to 2008, Thaver worked as a centre manager at a neighbourhood community centre.
The organisation’s chairman was aware of Thaver’s past convictions but gave him a chance, stipulating that he be supervised while interacting with children. The victim, who was a Primary 3 pupil at the time, frequented the centre and got to know Thaver. On four separate occasions, Thaver sexually assaulted him in his office or the storeroom.
The prosecution argued for a sentence of at least 18 years’ preventive detention, citing Thaver’s high risk of reoffending and his history of similar crimes. The Deputy Public Prosecutor stated that Thaver is an “incorrigible sexual predator who has exploited eight children on 60 occasions from 1999 to 2023”.
If he is not suitable for preventive detention, the prosecutor sought a jail term of 21 to 25 years, along with three months’ imprisonment in lieu of caning, as Thaver cannot be caned due to his age. In contrast, Thaver’s lawyer requested a lighter sentence of eight years, noting that Thaver had sought treatment for paedophilia at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) shortly after his release from prison in 2021, which, according to the lawyer, showed a desire to rehabilitate.
Thaver’s criminal history goes back to when he was a primary school teacher between 1999 and 2000, during which he molested four 10-year-old girls. He was sentenced to eight years in jail and 24 strokes of the cane.
After his release, he offended again in 2008, hugging and kissing an eight-year-old boy, which led to a one-year jail term. Later, it came to light that he had also performed oral sex on a boy between 2007 and 2008. These offences led to a 13-year jail sentence and 12 strokes of the cane in 2014.
Thaver was diagnosed with paedophilia in 2013 and attended outpatient sessions at IMH between March 2021 and September 2023. He was even prescribed antidepressants to curb his libido in August 2021. The judge has now called for a report to assess his suitability for preventive detention, a measure that allows for the incarceration of recalcitrant offenders for up to 20 years to protect the public.
