A Singaporean man, 47, who raped and sexually abused his 15-year-old biological daughter, was sentenced to 16 years in jail and 18 strokes of the cane by the High Court on Friday. The man pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual assault by penetration. However, six other charges – two for rape and four for outrage of modesty – were also taken into consideration.
According to the girl's mother, the father started molesting the child when she was around 11 and it escalated to sexual assault and rape a few years later. The victim's mother said that when she was being intimate with her husband, she had heard him say the name of one of their daughters.
Later, when the 15-year-old girl told her mother that her father had sexually abused her, the woman believed her because of what happened earlier. The names of all parties cannot be published under a court order to protect the identity of the victim.
Man Was Unemployed and Usually Stayed Out Late to Drink
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Shamini Joseph told the court that the family of nine, including the couple, the victim and her six siblings, lived in a one-bedroom flat.
The victim's mother, who works in a bakery, was the sole breadwinner of the family as the father, who had been working odd jobs since 2019, was unemployed and usually stayed out late to drink with his friends.
The victim's father slept on a sofa in the living room, while the woman slept in the bedroom with the children. However, at the time of the offences, she was usually at work.
In 2018, the 47-year-old man started molesting the victim, who was the couple's second-oldest child, when she was about 11 or 12 years old. He first raped her on October 7, 2021, when she was 15.
On October 7, 2021, when the woman left for work, the man asked the victim's younger sister, who was supposed to remain home for home-based learning, to go to school. Though the 12-year-old girl protested, the man insisted that she leave the flat even after she phoned her school counsellor to explain the situation to her father.
Following this, the victim's older sister, who was 16 years old, asked the 12-year-old to go to their mother's workplace and soon both of them left the flat.
Man Raped Daughter When Wife Was Out for Work
With two daughters away, his wife out at work and the rest of the younger siblings, who were aged seven and below, sleeping, the man called the victim out to the living room. But she refused to go, as she was aware that he would sexually assault her, as he had done that on number of occasions.
Following her refusal, the man pulled her out of the bedroom and raped her on the sofa and took a shower with her after the assault. The victim bumped into her seven-year-old sister as she was coming out of the toilet.
On the morning of October 29, 2021, the man pulled the victim out of the bedroom and raped her yet again.
In the court, the DPP said: "The victim did not put up any resistance because she felt that it was futile, as he was stronger than her and she had no means to stop these acts. She stared at the ceiling while the accused was performing these acts."
The prosecution added that the victim's mother had noticed the victim behaving "strangely" post such incidents and the daughter kept complaining that her backside hurt. The victim had also confided in a 15-year-old family friend that she had "butt pain" and that her father had done something to her, but the friend did not dare to ask her any further details.
Shortly after the second rape, the friend attended a birthday celebration for the victim's mother where she told the friend that she felt that the victim was hiding something, prompting the friend to inform her what the victim had shared with her.
Overhearing their conversation, the victim's seven-year-old sister told her mother that on Oct 7, their father had called the victim to the living room and that she later saw the victim and the man with wet hair, which she thought was "strange".
Wife Confronted Husband and Files Police Complaint
After this, the mother pulled the victim aside and asked her if anything had happened with their father. Eventually, the victim told her mother about the sexual acts.
The woman confronted her husband about it over several days, before taking the victim for a medical check-up and accompanying her to make a police report on November 4, 2021. The man was arrested on the same day and has been remanded in custody since.
Proper investigations revealed that the man often checked the victim's mobile phone to ensure that she did not have any boyfriends but did not do the same with the other children.
The DPP said that the victim initially did not tell anyone about the incidents, as she did not know they were wrong, was afraid that no one would believe her and was fearful of the consequences if she reported the matter.
During the sentencing, Justice Dedar Singh Gill highlighted how the man, who was in a clear place of trust, had abused his position. 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.
