Singapore: A cleaner broke down in tears after he was acquitted of having sex with an underage prostitute for $10. Bangladeshi national Md Salauddin Md Dudu Mia, 29, who did not have a lawyer, also thanked the judge repeatedly for believing in him.

In arriving at the verdict, District Judge Low Wee Ping noted that the charge did not specify the exact date, time or place of the offence although these were required by the Criminal Procedure Code.

The judge said: "What was significantly worrying was that the initial charge stated that the offence was committed in January last year on a staircase landing of Block 605 in Hougang but when the trial started on Dec 19 this year, the prosecution amended the charge to state that the offence was committed sometime in July this year at the staircase landing of an unknown block in Hougang."

The judge also noted that the statement Mr Md Salauddin gave to police referred only to the alleged offence last year and no further statements had been taken from him regarding the amended charge.