Jailed 19 years for raping niece
By Chai Hung Yin
The New Paper
Sunday, Sep 09, 2012
As her uncle, he provided the young girl with food and pocket money.
But he also did bad things to her.
For about three years, he would tell her to go to his bedroom, where he would proceed to lie on top of her.
Although she was frightened and felt pain, she wasn't sure what was going on.
It wasn't until she was 13 and attended sexuality education lessons in school that she realised the horror of her uncle's acts.
On Thursday, her uncle - a 54-year-old married man with two children - was jailed 19 years for raping his niece.
He faced five charges, of which three were taken into consideration during sentencing.
The man cannot be identified as it could lead to the identity of his victim.
He was her main source of pocket money and food.
Her mother had left home when she was nine, while her father worked long hours and was rarely home.
Her nightmare began in 2006 when she was only 10 years old.
A district court heard that the man, who is married to her father's elder sister, had picked her up from school on his motorbike.
She was surprised as this was the first time he had done so.
He told her she could play with the computer in his flat.
No one was at home when they arrived.
He told her to go into his bedroom, followed after her and locked the door.
He then asked her to lie down.
He proceeded to remove all her clothes as well as his own pants and underwear.
She was frightened, but she didn't know what he intended to do to her.
As he raped her, she closed her lips tightly to prevent herself from shouting from the pain and cried quietly.
Afterwards, he told her not to tell anyone about the incident.
She did as he had said because she didn't understand what he had done to her.
He raped her five times between 2006 and 2009 - once in her own home and the rest in his flat.
On one occasion in 2009, he wanted her to follow him to his flat, but she refused because she had found out from the sex education classes that what he was doing was wrong.
He threatened to take away the mobile phone he had bought for her.
She was angry, but followed him as she didn't want to lose her phone.
After raping her, he gave her $100 and told her not to tell anyone.
In July 2010, she was sent to the then Andrew And Grace Home, now known as AG Home, after the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports found that she lacked proper care and guidance from her parents.
Police report
While there, she told a social worker about the rapes and a police report was made.
A psychiatrist found her to be depressed and prescribed anti-depressants.
Her uncle was arrested about five months later, on Dec 14.
During mitigation, the man's defence lawyer, Mr Rakesh Vasu, said he is not a paedophile and that he committed the offences "due to a moment of weakness".
District Judge Mathew Joseph said the accused is fortunate because he is over 50 years old and would not be caned.
He said the accused had caused the victim to suffer and that "the child has lost innocence forever".
Anyone convicted of rape can be jailed up to 20 years, fined or caned.
