SINGAPORE: A girl was sexually assaulted weekly by her cousin, starting when she was six years old and he was 10. The offences took place at her aunt’s house, where she was left while her parents were at work.
On Tuesday (March 10), the perpetrator, who is now 22 years old, was sentenced to 10 years’ jail and the maximum 24 strokes of the cane.
He had been found guilty on Jan 15 of one count of rape and one count of sexual assault by penetration following a trial that began in May 2025.
Although the victim testified that she was assaulted since 2013, the perpetrator was charged over offences that took place between 2016 and 2018, when he was between 12 and 14 years old and she was between eight and 10 years old.
In sentencing, High Court Judge Valerie Thean said deterrence was the primary focus, and she considered aggravating factors, including the victim’s age and the degree of harm caused.
On the other hand, the judge gave a sentencing reduction on account of the perpetrator’s youth at the time of the offences.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Benedict Chan had pointed to the writings of the victim during her therapy sessions.
The victim said she thought the sexual acts were normal because after her initial complaint, her parents accepted that her cousin had accidentally touched her and ignored the incident. The girl also wrote that she became used to being ignored after a while.
Her father is the younger brother of the perpetrator’s mother.
The perpetrator, who was adopted at a young age, is not biologically related to the victim.
The girl, her two younger brothers and their domestic worker were left at her aunt’s house during the day. Her parents would take them home each evening after dinner.
All the incidents took place in the master bedroom, which is on the third floor of the four-storey house.
During the trial, her parents were called as prosecution witnesses, while the perpetrator’s parents and older brother were called as defence witnesses.
The victim said the incidents took place once a week. While she did her homework in the master bedroom, her cousin would enter and carry her to the bed.
She said he would lock the door and draw the curtains before touching her and carrying out penetrative sexual acts on her under the blanket.
He told her that these acts were good for her and not to tell anyone about them, she said.
They could see whether someone was approaching the room because a monitor in the room displayed the feed of a closed-circuit television camera overlooking the staircase.
Between 2016 and 2017, the victim told her domestic worker that her cousin had touched her, without giving specifics. The helper asked her to tell her aunt.
The complaint prompted a family meeting. Her father asked for the CCTV footage but was told by her aunt that it was not functional.
After this meeting, the girl was told not to go to the third floor while she continued going to the house after school.
She eventually decided to return to the master bedroom because she was getting bitten by mosquitoes on the first floor.
The sexual acts became more frequent, she testified.
A second family meeting was held after she told her new helper that her cousin had touched her.
At the meeting, the perpetrator’s parents accused her of lying, while her father confronted the boy.
It was agreed that she and her siblings would go home after school instead of going to her aunt’s house.
On her 12th birthday in October 2019, the victim’s parents invited the perpetrator’s family over without informing her.
She was so upset that she hid in her room and went out only to cut her birthday cake.
The victim said she realised that what her cousin had done to her was wrong between the last year of primary school and her first year in secondary school.
She had read a news article about a rape case and researched the topic online.
When her mother came across her online search history, the girl confirmed that it was related to her experiences with her cousin.
In September 2020, she decided to tell her mother about the assaults in greater detail, after which the woman told her husband.
The victim’s parents testified that this was the first time they realised the true extent and nature of the sexual acts committed against her.
The girl was initially reluctant to lodge a police report as she was worried that this would ruin the relationship between two families.
On Jan 3, 2021, she made a police report after her father told her to stop worrying about his relations with his sister.
Defence lawyer Wendell Wong noted that the victim and perpetrator were “kids” at the time. - The Straits Times/ANN
