In Singapore, a 32-year-old man was released from prison only to commit the same crime again.
Pleading guilty to two charges of molestation on Thursday (16 Feb), he received a jail sentence of three years and eight strokes of the cane for his new offences.
The courts took a third charge into consideration at the time of sentencing.
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), the man served a 26-month prison sentence for his previous transgressions. He also was punished with three strokes of the cane.
He was convicted for molesting his then-underage stepdaughter, who is now 14 years old.
The man has been out of prison since 17 Aug 2020.
Following his release, the victim moved in with her maternal aunt and uncle while her mother lived with the accused.
In an effort to reunite the family around May 2021, the accused could interact with his stepdaughter at her aunt’s residence. However, both her mother and uncle had to be present.
In addition, the family went on staycations. The victim and her mother felt no repeat incidents would occur as they thought that “everything was OK”.
CNA reports that the victim was staying temporarily with her maternal grandparents on 28 Jun 2021. Eventually, her mother decided to bring the victim back to stay at their family home.
Unfortunately, the man molested the victim two days after she moved in, while their other family members – the victim’s mother, stepsiblings, and a baby – were sleeping.
At the time of the incident, the man was playing the video game ‘Mobile Legends’ with the victim in the living room.
Source: Gadget Match
He then began to molest her, causing her to freeze, not knowing how to react. Noticing her discomfort, he stopped and apologised, stating:
Don’t tell anyone as [I do] not want to go back to jail.
The victim fell asleep without responding but woke up when the man grabbed her hand and made her commit a sex act.
She went to stay with her aunt on the same day.
On that very evening, her aunt came across the victim crying to herself. When asked what was wrong, the victim said her stepfather had molested her.
She spent the next two days informing her child protection officer about what the man had done and lodged a report against him.
Immediately after the report, she ran away from her aunt’s home following a nervous breakdown. Her aunt and uncle subsequently did not want to continue looking after her.
The victim appeared at the Child Guidance Clinic of the Institute of Mental Health in January last year. In addition to nightmares and flashbacks, her studies have suffered greatly.
Police arrested and interviewed the man, but he denied having sexual contact with the victim.
A discovery of his DNA on the victim’s underwear then emerged.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Chong Kee En asked for 24 to 28 months’ jail, alongside six to nine strokes of the cane.
He called the man a repeat sexual offender “in every sense of the word” for sexually assaulting his stepdaughter. The offences had occurred slightly over a month after the expiry of his remission order, he pointed out.
There was an abuse of trust, especially when the victim had been trying to forgive him for his first offence. DPP Chong stated:
She agreed to go back to live with them… as she heartbreakingly revealed, “I wanted to give my mother the chance to feel like she has one happy family again”.
The man will be allowed to begin his jail term in May after his wife gives birth to her latest child. She has forgiven him as well.
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Featured image adapted from Adobe Stock.
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