SHE was 12 and starting to discover her sexuality.
Through friends and the Internet, she met guys who were at least six years older than her.
Typically, after brief, casual exchanges, they would end up having sex.
And they would do it brazenly in open staircase landings of HDB blocks.
In the past year alone, Norah (not her real name) has had sex this way with three young men aged 18 to 23.
Last Thursday, the men pleaded guilty to having sex with a minor.
Muhammad Fendi, 23, was jailed a year on two counts of sex with an underage girl, while Muhammad Hafiz, 19, was fined $8,000 on one count.
They could have been jailed up to five years and fined up to $10,000.
The third man, Rizwan Rahim, 18, is awaiting his sentence on May 16 pending a probation report.
The age of consent for sexual activities is 16. It is illegal for any man to have sex with a girl below that age, unless they are married.
Norah's case is the latest to highlight a worrying trend - young teens who are sexually curious and active, and men who are not averse to exploiting that.
The number of men charged with having sex with underaged girls has nearly doubled in five years, from 114 cases in 2001 to 217 last year. (See report on facing page.)
In March last year, Muhammad Fendi saw his chance when he was introduced to Norah through her friends.
The 12-year-old, who was in Secondary 1 then, told him she was 13.
While chatting at the void deck of a block, Muhammad Fendi asked her to be his girlfriend. She thought it over for a few days and then agreed.
Soon, they met again at the same block.
This was when he persuaded her to have sex. And they did it openly at a third-floor staircase landing.
A few days later, they returned to the same spot and had sex again.
Soon after, she decided to stop seeing him.
WENT ONLINE
A month after she met Muhammad Fendi, Norah started chatting with Rizwan Rahim, 18, on the Internet.
In the course of their chat, she told him that she was 13.
They did not meet face-to-face until October, when he visited her after Hari Raya. That was when she confessed to him that she was only really turning 13 in November.
In December, they met to have lunch near her home.
After that, they walked over to a staircase landing on the second floor of a block of flats to chat, and ended up having sex.
Court papers stated that Rizwan broke up with her in early January this year and they stopped contacting each other.
ASKED FOR SEX
Later in January, court papers stated that Norah pestered a friend to introduce her to a guy.
The guy, Muhammad Hafiz, 19, agreed to meet Norah at the void deck of a block of flats.
Again, she made herself a year older than she was, saying she was 14.
But this time, it was her who persuaded him to have sex.
Taken in by her sweet words, Muhammad Hafiz led her to a staircase landing at the 16th floor where they started kissing and had sex.
After that, the two parted ways and did not meet again.
Court documents showed that it was Norah's mother who found out about the sexual activities, but it was not clear how.
Upset, she took her daughter to the police station to lodge a report against the men.
