Singapore: Singapore's national para-athlete Adam Kamis, who represented the country at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, on Monday pleaded guilty of recruiting women for prostitution through social networking web sites for his social escort agency and sexually exploiting a minor girl.
Adam, 37, took to Facebook to recruit women, using the moniker 'Angel Tan' to pass himself off as an escort girl working for SG Freelancers - the escort agency he started in early 2013 to get out of debt.
He pleaded guilty to 11 charges of recruiting women for prostitution and one charge under the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act for exploiting a 16-year-old girl.
For child trafficking, Adam could be jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to SGD 100,000. He could also be given up to six strokes of the cane. Adam will be sentenced on June 27.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz told the court that Adam wanted to "pique their interest and gain their trust."
Adam, who lost his right arm in a motorcycle accident and had left arm paralysed, represented Singapore at the Delhi Commonwealth Games and the ASEAN Para Games.
Between early 2013 and October 2015, when he was arrested, Adam had recruited 15 women, Channel News Asia reported.
His victims were students, a dental assistant, childcare teacher and an accountant, and were aged between 16 and 38. The court heard that the 16-year-old girl had come across Adam's advertisement for a freelance job paying SGD 500 a day.
She contacted 'Angel Tan,' the moniker used by Adam. Adam, who introduced himself as a staff of the escort company, met the girl at his apartment in Yishun. He sexually exploited her by persuading her to let him "inspect" her body, assuring that all girls who attended the interview had to do the same.
Despite telling Adam she was only 16, he persisted, telling her that no one would find out. He had sex with her. For other victims, Adam would get the victims to disclose their personal details in a "sexually explicit" questionnaire.
Adam would "try out" the women by having sex with them, Sripathy-Shanaz told the court.
Sripathy-Shanaz is seeking a sentence of 38 months against Adam. The DPP argued that this was not a spur of the moment decision but the culmination of detailed planning which spawned a well laid-out, sophisticated recruitment process.
He was both the mastermind and operator of the entire enterprise, she said. For procuring or attempting to procure a woman for the purpose of prostitution, Adam faces up to five years' jail and a fine of up to SGD 10,000.
