SINGAPORE, Nov. 26 -- The High Court has ordered 15 years of preventive detention for Terence Thaver, a 60-year-old repeat sex offender who has spent nearly one-third of his adult life behind bars.

The Straits Times reported this marks his fourth conviction for preying on children.

Thaver was found guilty of molesting an eight-year-old boy in September 2023, less than three years after his release from prison in March 2021.

He befriended the child over a game of chess before committing the offence.

He also admitted to two charges of unnatural sex involving a nine-year-old boy in 2007.

Justice Valerie Thean ruled that preventive detention was necessary to protect the public, citing Thaver's high risk of reoffending despite prior sente...