PART XI
OFFENCES AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS
Causing or encouraging prostitution of, sexual penetration with, or indecent assault on, girl below the age of 16
145. —(1) Any person who causes or encourages the prostitution of, or the commission of unlawful sexual penetration of or an indecent assault on, a girl below the age of 16 years for whom he is responsible shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both. [26/80;51/2007]
(2) Where a girl has become a prostitute, or has engaged in unlawful sexual penetration, or has been indecently assaulted, a person shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to have caused or encouraged it, if he knowingly allowed her to consort with or to enter or continue in the employment of, any prostitute or person of known immoral character. [26/80;51/2007]
(3) The persons who are to be treated for the purposes of this section as responsible for a girl are (subject to subsection (4)) —
(a) any person who is her parent or legal guardian;
(b) any person who has actual possession or control of her, or to whose charge she has been committed by her parent or legal guardian or by a person having the custody of her; and
(c) any other person who has the custody, charge or care of her. [26/80]
(4) In subsection (3) —
"legal guardian" , in relation to any girl, means any person who is for the time being her guardian, having been appointed according to law by deed or will or by order of a court of competent jurisdiction;
"parent" , in relation to any girl, does not include a person deprived of the custody of her by order of a court of competent jurisdiction but (subject to that), in the case of a girl who has been adopted under the Adoption of Children Act (Cap. 4), or any enactment thereby repealed, means her adopters and, in the case of a girl who is illegitimate (and has not been so adopted), means her mother and any person who has been adjudged to be her putative father. [26/80]
(5) If, on a charge of an offence against a girl under this section, the girl appears to the court to have been below the age of 16 years at the time of the offence charged, she shall be presumed for the purposes of this section to have been so, unless the contrary is proved. [26/80]
Persons living on or trading in prostitution
146. —(1) Any person who knowingly lives wholly or in part on the earnings of the prostitution of another person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years and shall also be liable to a fine not exceeding $10,000.
(2) Any male person who is convicted of a second or subsequent offence under this section shall, in addition to any term of imprisonment imposed in respect of such offence, be liable to caning.
(3) Where any person is proved to live with or be habitually in the company of any prostitute or is proved to have exercised control, direction or influence over the movements of any prostitute in such a manner as to show that the person is aiding, abetting or compelling her prostitution with any other person or generally, the person shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be deemed to be knowingly living on the earnings of prostitution.
Suppression of places of assignation
147. —(1) Any person who keeps, manages or assists in the management of a place of assignation shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $3,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both and, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both.
(2) Any person who keeps, manages or assists in the management of a club or a place of public resort which is used as a place of assignation shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both and, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding $15,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or to both.
Suppression of brothels
148. —(1) Any person who keeps, manages or assists in the management of a brothel shall be guilty of an offence under this section.
(2) Any person who is the tenant, lessee, occupier or person in charge of any place which is used as a brothel shall, unless he proves that he has no knowledge that the place is used as a brothel, be guilty of an offence under this section.
(3) Any person who being the tenant, lessee, occupier or person in charge of any place lets such place or any part thereof shall, notwithstanding such letting, be guilty of an offence under subsection (2) if the place or any part thereof is used as a brothel, unless he proves that he has no knowledge that the place or any part thereof is used as a brothel.
(4) Any person who being the owner of any place or the agent of that owner lets the same or any part thereof with the knowledge that the place or some part thereof is to be used as a brothel or is wilfully a party to the continued use of the place or any part thereof as a brothel shall, notwithstanding such letting, be guilty of an offence under this section.
(5) Any person who is guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $3,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both and, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both.
(6) In any proceedings under this Part, any evidence given by any police officer not below the rank of sergeant that any place has been used as a brothel or a place of assignation shall, until the contrary is proved, be deemed to be sufficient evidence of the fact. [26/80]
Notice to owner and occupier
149. —(1) Where the Director has reason to believe that a place is being used as a brothel or as a place of assignation, he may serve or cause to be served a notice in the prescribed form on the owner of the place, as well as the occupier thereof.
(2) If the owner or occupier is not otherwise known, service shall be made on the person inscribed in the books kept under any written law for the time being in force as the owner or occupier of the place; and if the name of the owner or occupier is not inscribed in those books or if the name of the owner or occupier cannot by the exercise of due diligence be found, then the notice may be served by affixing it to the principal outer door or upon the outside of any door or window or any conspicuous part of the place.
(3) Every occupier receiving a notice under this section shall forthwith inform the owner or the person from whom he rents the place of the fact of receipt of the notice who shall in like manner inform the owner or the person from whom he rents the place and so on till the notice is brought to the knowledge of the owner, each tenant being responsible for bringing the notice to the knowledge of his immediate lessor.
(4) Any occupier who refuses or omits to inform the owner or the person from whom he rents the premises that a notice under this section has been received shall be liable to prosecution under section 225C of the Penal Code (Cap. 224).
(5) If, in proceedings under this Part, it is proved that the notice under subsection (1) has been served on the owner or occupier of a place, it shall be presumed that the place is so kept, managed or used to the knowledge or with the permission of the owner or occupier of the place.
Determination of tenancy of places on conviction for permitting use as brothel, etc.
150. —(1) Upon the conviction of the occupier of any place for any offence under section 147 or 148 in respect of the place, the owner of the place shall within one month require the person so convicted to deliver up possession of the place to the owner, and in the event of the person so convicted failing within one month of being so required to deliver up possession as aforesaid, the owner of the place shall be entitled to determine the lease or contract of tenancy but without prejudice to the rights or remedies of any party to the lease or contract accrued before the date of such determination.
(2) Where the owner of any place has determined the lease or contract of tenancy in accordance with subsection (1) and the occupier has not delivered up possession of the place after such determination, a Magistrate’s Court may, on the application of the owner, make a summary order for the delivery of possession of the place to the owner.
(3) If the occupier disobeys any order made by a Magistrate’s Court under subsection (2), he shall be liable to the penalty prescribed in that behalf in section 188 of the Penal Code (Cap. 224).
Demolition of structural contrivances for facilitating the running of a place of assignation or of a brothel
151. Whenever it appears to a court, upon the trial of any offence under section 147 or 148, that the place in or in respect of which the offence is alleged to have been committed is a place of assignation or a brothel, and that the same is fitted or provided with any means or contrivances such as staircases, doors and partitions, ladders, planks, platforms, posts, palings, fences, locks, bars, bolts or any other things which appear to it to have been specially erected or constructed for the purpose of facilitating the carrying on of a place of assignation or of a brothel at the place, the court shall order the demolition of such means or contrivances.