A 41-year-old Singaporean man, who is an assistant service engineer was sentenced to three years' jail on Monday, December 23 for having sex with his 15-year-old stepdaughter in a car after he picked her up from school.
The convict pleaded guilty last month to one count of having sex with the underage girl. As per the court documents, the unnamed man committed the offence "with her consent". However, another similar charge was taken into consideration during sentencing.
Court proceedings
Deputy Public Prosecutor Derek Ee told the court that the man initially treated the victim as his stepdaughter after getting married to her mother but later, they gradually became closer and often texted each other which led to the accused having sex with the minor.
As per the court documents the man picked up the Secondary 4 student from school at around 12.30 pm on Jan 25. But, instead of going home he took the victim to a multi-storey carpark in Admiralty Drive.
The crime at the Admiralty Drive
The man and her stepdaughter moved to the rear passenger seat and he had unprotected sex with the teenager. A police officer, who was present in that area at around 2 pm, spotted the man and the victim. After seeing the policeman both of them quickly dressed.
Initially, the convict denied having sex in the car after the police officer questioned him. But later during the further investigation, they admitted it.
During Monday's hearing, DPP Yan Jiakang told District Judge Teo Guan Kee that the accused had abused the trust placed in him and sought for at least three years of imprisonment. Meanwhile, the lawyer, representing the man, Dilip Kumar pleaded for his client to be sentenced to a year of a jail term or less and told the court that the accused "understands that what he did was very wrong".
It should be mentioned that the man married to the mother of the victim in 2016 and they have between them 10 children, aged between 24. The defence lawyer mentioned that most of the children are from her previous marriage.
However, the man was offered $25,000. He was ordered to surrender himself to the State Courts on Jan 3 to begin his sentence.
Singapore law
It should be mentioned that the legal age in the context of Singapore is 16. Sex with a minor, regardless of whether the act was consented to or not, is illegal and it is considered as a punishable offence under Section 376A of the Penal code. Minors of both genders are covered within this provision.
