Man gets 16 years’ jail and 18 strokes of the cane for raping, sexually abusing biological daughter since she was 11
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- A man molested his biological daughter when she was in primary school
- His abuse of the victim got worse a few years later when he molested, sexually assaulted and raped her
- The mother grew suspicious of her daughter’s change in behaviour and that led to her finding out about what her husband did
- The father was sentenced to jail and caning after the man pleaded guilty to sexual assault involving penetration
BY
TAUFIQ ZALIZAN
Published May 3, 2024Updated May 3, 2024
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SINGAPORE — A man sexually abused his biological daughter from when she was about 11, starting with molestation before it escalated to sexual assault and rape a few years later.
The girl endured the ordeal because she was afraid nobody would believe her if she spoke up, among other reasons. The offences came to light only after she confided in a family friend who then told the girl's mother.
The mother believed it was the truth straightaway because she recalled an incident when the husband mentioned the daughter’s name while the couple were being intimate.
On Friday (May 3), the man, a 47-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced in the High Court to 16 years’ jail and 18 strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual assault with penetration.
Six other charges including two of rape and four of molestation were taken into consideration in sentencing.
The names of all parties cannot be published under a court order to protect the identity of the victim.
The court heard that the family of nine — comprising the couple, the victim and her six siblings — live in a one-room flat.
At the time of the offences, the victim’s mother was the sole breadwinner working in a bakery while the father, who had been working odd jobs since 2019, was unemployed.
The victim is the second oldest child in the family.
On a school day on Oct 7 in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the victim was 15 years old, one of her younger sisters was supposed to remain home for home-based learning.
The father got angry and shouted at the younger sister to go to school, even though the child asked her school counsellor to explain the situation to him. Upon the father’s insistence, the sister and her oldest sibling left home.
With two daughters away, his wife out at work and the rest of the children sleeping, the man called the victim out to the living room.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Shamini Joseph said that the victim did not comply because her father had summoned her before on a number of occasions to the living room after the mother had left for work and then sexually assaulted her.
So the father pulled her out from the bedroom into the living room and sexually assaulted her before taking her to the toilet to wash up, where he also molested her.
The victim’s mother noticed the victim behaving “strangely” after that and the daughter kept complaining that her backside hurt, the prosecution said.
The victim also confided in a family friend about her “butt pain” and that the father had done something to her, though the friend did not ask her more about it.
On another morning later that month, the father again sexually assaulted the victim in the living room.
The victim did not put up any resistance because she felt that it was futile and he was stronger than her. "She had no means to stop these acts,” DPP Shamini said.
Some time not long after this, during the mother’s birthday celebration, the mother told the family friend her worries that the victim was hiding something.
The friend then told the mother what the daughter had said previously.
Overhearing the conversation, one of the younger daughters then told the mother that the father had summoned the victim to the living room on Oct 7 and she later bumped into the both of them getting out of the toilet with their hair wet, which she thought was "strange".
The mother then went to ask the victim and found out about the sexual assaults.
She confronted her husband about it over several days, before taking the daughter for a medical check-up and accompanying her to make a police report.
Court documents showed that the father had molested the daughter when she was about 11 or 12 years old, constituting one of the charges taken into consideration
‘UTTERLY ODIOUS’ CRIME
The prosecution sought a jail sentence of 14 to 16 years and 18 strokes of the cane.They said that the man had abused his position as the victim’s biological father and breached the trust placed on him to care for and protect his children, including the victim who was vulnerable given her young age.
There was also an element of premeditation, as seen by how the man asked his other daughter to get out of the house and leave the victim alone with just him and her much younger siblings at home, for him to sexually prey on her.
It was also aggravating that the man had committed other sexual acts against the daughter, which were taken into consideration for sentencing.
Pro-bono lawyers Pramnath Vvijayakumar and Tan Su pleaded for a jail term of not more than 14 years with 16 strokes of the cane for the father.
They pointed to his plea of guilt as a sign of remorse, which also spared the victim from further trauma in recounting the crimes had the father chosen to claim trial.
In sentencing, Justice Dedar Singh Gill highlighted how the man, who was in a clear place of trust, had abused his position.
He noted how the victim had held back from reporting the crimes because she initially did not know the sexual acts were wrong due to her young age.
She had also feared that others would not believe her or how her father would retaliate if she told them about his crimes.
Justice Singh pointed as well to how the man had committed other offences that were taken into consideration, including rape, which he described as an “utterly odious” crime.
For each count of sexual assault by penetration, the man could have been sentenced to jail for up to 20 years and been liable to a fine or caning.
