SINGAPORE: A 69-year-old man was sentenced to 20 years’ jail on Monday (Nov 3) for raping his step-granddaughter and sexually assaulting her repeatedly when she was between nine and 10 years old.
The victim, who later developed post-traumatic stress disorder and engaged in self-harm, was in the care of her grandmother as her father was in jail and her mother was not in the picture.
The man pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of raping a minor and another of sexual assault by penetration of a minor. Another 12 charges were taken into consideration.
THE CASE
The court heard that the victim’s father was incarcerated since 2010 and was not involved in her upbringing. She had never met her mother, and she stayed with her grandmother since she was born.
The offender moved into the unit with the victim and her grandmother when he remarried the grandmother in 2008. They had married each other in 1996 but divorced in 2000.
The trio slept in one room, with the girl sleeping on the floor and the adults sharing the bed.
From 2016 to 2017, the man sexually assaulted the victim on at least nine occasions, when she was nine to 10 years old.
Sometime between March 2016 and October 2016, he invited friends over for alcohol. When they left, the man was alone in the unit with the girl as his wife had gone out.
The man molested the girl and forced a sex act on her, causing her to feel “disgusted”, the court heard.
Between January 2017 and June 2017, the man again invited friends over to drink alcohol.
When they left, he raped the victim. The girl started crying and he made a lewd comment to her before telling her to clean herself up.
In December 2019, the man and the victim’s grandmother divorced and he moved out.
