SINGAPORE, Dec 19 (The Straits Times/ANN): After his daughter told him she wanted new shoes, a man asked her to perform a sexual act on him, saying they would go shopping later.
She complied, and after he also performed a sexual act on her, they went out to get the footwear.
The man, who committed the offence between January and June 2020, also carried out other sexual offences against her.
On Monday, he was jailed six years after pleading guilty to a molestation charge and two counts of incest.
The 48-year-old Singaporean cannot be named owing to a gag order to protect the identity of his daughter, who is now 20.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Delicia Tan said the victim lived with her father, stepmother and five younger step-siblings in Malaysia until late 2019, when she moved to Singapore with her father. Her biological mother died when she was six years old, and the offender remarried.
From around 2016 to 2017, when his daughter was about 15 or 16, he started asking her to perform sexual acts on him.]]
Said DPP Tan: “Although the victim felt disgusted as the accused was her father and she knew that it was wrong, she complied with the accused’s requests as she was afraid that the accused would get angry if she refused.”
At some point, he also began performing sexual acts on his daughter frequently.
On Feb 17, 2019, while they were staying in her aunt’s house in Singapore, the accused lifted the victim’s shirt and fondled her breasts while she was asleep on a chair in the living room. At that time, she was 17 and had come to Singapore with her father and a stepbrother to renew her passport.
After she woke up, her father continued molesting her for about 15 minutes. Her stepbrother was sleeping in another part of the living room where the lights were switched off.
On another occasion between January and June 2020, the victim, who was asleep, woke up as she felt someone was doing something to her sexually. Seeing that it was her father, she pushed him away but he continued and motioned to her to perform a sexual act on him, and she complied.
DPP Tan said she kept the incidents to herself as she felt embarrassed and did not tell her stepmother as they were not close.
The prosecutor added that the girl was also worried about her family’s well-being if she were to report her father as he was the sole breadwinner. Over time, she became accustomed to his sexual requests.
She eventually told her boyfriend at the end of 2020 about what her father had done. On Aug 29, 2021, the boyfriend called the police to report an unrelated matter that did not involve the offender. During investigations, it was discovered that the victim did not wish to live with the accused because of her sexual encounters with him.
The offender was arrested on Aug 30, 2021.
The prosecution sought a sentence of six to seven years, saying that for the offences of incest, there was a breach of trust and confidence, and premeditation. This included the implicit promise to go shopping in exchange for the sexual acts and committing the offences only when no one else was at home.
“The accused had thoroughly corrupted his biological daughter over the course of almost five years from around 2016 to 2020 – although the victim initially felt disgusted... she became conditioned to his requests,” added the prosecution.
For molestation, the man could have been jailed for up to two years, fined or caned, or sentenced to any combination of these punishments.
For each count of incest, he could have been jailed five years. - The Straits Times/ANN
