Crimes against minors, especially very young children, are one of the most heinous things that can happen.
Recently, the Supreme Court sentenced a man to over 11 years in jail for the sexual assault of his stepdaughter and sister-in-law.
The abuse started when they were just eight and nine years old respectively.
The man pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated sexual assault and another two of violating a minor’s modesty.
At the time of sentencing, nine more charges of sexual offences against children were considered.
Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reports that the man began sexually abused his stepdaughter in 2014 or 2015. She was eight to 10 years old at the time.
The offender lived in a Bedok flat with the victim, who’s known as V2 in court documents, and her mother. The mother married him in 2014, and they divorced in 2016.
The assaults would take place when the mother was out at work during the day, leaving the man, then unemployed, alone in the flat.
He would wait for V2 to return from school and then sit next to her, touching her thighs while she was on her phone. He would then move on to touch her chest.
These actions understandably made the stepdaughter feel disgusted and uncomfortable. However, her stepfather told her that it was simply “family love” and instructed her not to inform anyone.
Once, the man even asked her to touch his private parts, and she did so.
CNA reports that the abuse became worse in 2015 when the man entered V2’s bedroom and touched her body, including her private parts.
During the encounter, which lasted half an hour, he also kissed her lips while she remained silent.
The sexual abuse continued on an almost daily basis until the offender and his wife divorced, after which V2 moved out of the flat with her mother.
In addition, the man started abusing his sister-in-law in 2014, when she was about nine years old.
The second victim, whom court documents refer to as V1, was the stepsister of his wife.
Prior to the divorce, V1 would visit V2 at their flat to play video games and watch television as she lived nearby.
During several of these visits, the man’s wife was not at home, making him the only adult on the premises.
He would sit next to the girls while they played their video games, touching V1 on her waist and thigh. The degree of these offences escalated over time.
In 2014, V1 was practising meditation in V2’s room while the man and his wife were outside in the living room.
The man proceeded to enter the room, instructing the victim to continue closing her eyes. He then claimed that he was about to do something that would help with her meditation.
He touched her private parts, an act that made her uncomfortable. However, she did not stop him as she trusted him and believed he was helping her.
Sometime after 8 Aug 2014, the man repeated these actions when V1 was meditating in the flat again. This time, he asked her to follow him into the master bedroom, where he sexually assaulted her.
The victim was in pain but did not stop her offender as she still had trust in him. He stopped when she said she needed to go to the toilet.
The man continued to molest V1 during several of her other visits, repeatedly explaining that his actions were for “medicinal purposes and family love”.
According to court documents, the victim still trusted the man and did not know that he was committing an offence against her.
According to CNA, V1 learned that she had been sexually assaulted when she attended a sex education class in 2018.
She spent the next two hours crying in school. However, she did not inform her family of the abuse as she feared they would not believe her or be angry at her for not going to them sooner.
In Feb 2021, the assault came to light while V1 was arguing with her father. Her family then took her to file a police report.
After further investigations, police found out that the offender had a second victim as well — his former stepdaughter, V2.
The man ended up receiving a diagnosis of paedophilic disorder towards girls under the age of 14. He was also assessed to be at a moderate risk of repeating his offences.
On Monday (Aug 22), the man was sentenced to 11-and-a-half years in prison.
The sentence that Justice Pang Khang Chau imposed included six months in jail in lieu of caning.
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Featured image adapted from MS News.
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