Man jailed for raping half-sister fails in appeal
[video=youtube;6eXZKbD7PYY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6eXZKbD7PYY[/video]
Shaffiq Alkatib
Saturday, Jan 16, 2016
He sexually assaulted his mildly retarded half sister multiple times between March 12 and 14, 2010.
The car polisher even engaged in a threesome with his wife and the girl who was then 19 years old. All this while his stepson, who was then five, slept in their tiny one-room flat.
On Aug 1, 2013, Justice Tay Yong Kwang convicted the man, now 42, on two counts of rape and four counts of sexual assault by penetration following a 10-day trial.
He was jailed 22 years and ordered to receive the maximum 24 strokes of the cane.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the girl's identity, appealed against the conviction and sentence last year.
The Court of Appeal - presided by Judges of Appeal (JA) Chao Hick Tin and Andrew Phang, and Justice Quentin Loh - dismissed both his appeals yesterday.
JA Chao said they saw no reason to disagree with Justice Tay's findings.
During the man's trial in 2013, the court heard the teenager had an IQ of 58.
She lived with another half-brother in his flat in the western part of Singapore after their mother died in 2006.
But following an argument, this half-brother took her to the car polisher's flat in the southern part of Singapore on March 12, 2010.
On the first night, the car polisher told her to strip on the pretext of checking her for moles.
He raped and sexually assaulted her, ignoring her cries when she asked him to stop.
The following night, he forced her to watch him have sex with his wife, telling the teenager to learn from what they were doing. On both nights, he subjected the teenager to a variety of sexual assaults, including rape and sodomy.
The girl told her stepfather on March 15 that year about her ordeal. Her rapist was arrested the next day.
In court yesterday, JA Chao said in the grounds of decision that Justice Tay had been scrupulously cautious in examining the evidence.
For instance, Justice Tay had highlighted certain incidents captured during the trial, such as the rapist's tone of voice and the victim's fear when her half-brother shouted at her in court.
The man, who was represented by lawyers Pradeep Pillai and Carl Lim, glared at the judges when he heard their decision yesterday.
He gestured angrily at his lawyers after the judges left the courtroom.
"I will be back with vengeance!" he exclaimed as he was led away from the dock in handcuffs.
For each count of rape, he could have been jailed up to 20 years and fined or caned.
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