SINGAPORE: A 33-year-old man was on Monday (Apr 27) sentenced to jail for molesting his friend’s sister over a decade ago, when she was seven to nine years old and he was 19 to 21.
Melvinder Singh Gurmit Singh, 33, had contested two counts of molestation, claiming among other things that the girl had kissed him consensually and that she was taking revenge on him.
The court convicted Singh and sentenced him to 19 months’ jail.
The girl had not disclosed the offences earlier as she felt nobody would believe her, but said the molestation impacted her ability to give and receive physical affection.
She finally lodged a police report in March 2023 after revealing the molestation to her mother and boyfriend when they separately questioned her.
THE CASE
The victim testified that after she turned eight, which she remembered because she had received a much-desired backpack from her mother as a gift, Singh began kissing her on her lips in her oldest brother’s room.
She said she saw Singh as one of her older brothers. He had free access to the family home even when his friend, the victim’s brother, and the victim’s parents were not home.
The prosecution’s case was that Singh kissed the victim multiple times before taking her to a clubhouse in 2012 or 2013 where he molested her and placed her hand on his private parts.
In the clubhouse incident, the victim testified that she was swimming with her brothers and Singh next to the clubhouse when she was about nine years old.
