Man sexually abused 4 of his 5 daughters and stepdaughters, gets jail and caning

After he divorced V3’s mother in May 2016, he remained in contact with V3 and had her sleep over at his flat during the school holidays.

Sometime in November 2021, when V3 was 13, she stayed over at her father’s flat intending to visit her paternal grandparents the next day.

Usually, she slept with the other children, but this time her father said there were problems with the air-conditioning.

He therefore had her sleep in his room that night with other family members.

While the man’s third wife was busy performing other tasks outside the room that night, the offender lay down next to V3 and molested her.

V3 was shocked and froze, instinctively pretending that she was asleep.

The man continued molesting V3, stopping only when his wife called him.

V3 initially did not lodge a police report as she was afraid. She did so eventually on Jan 1, 2022.

Despite the police report, the offender continued his sexual abuse, targeting V4, his stepdaughter from his third marriage.

She considered the man a father figure and called him “daddy”.

In 2020 or 2021, when V4 was five to seven years old, the offender molested her.

He did it again multiple times in 2023, when V4 was eight to nine years old.

Sometime in 2023, the man was playing a game with V4 on a PlayStation when he felt aroused by accidental contact with the child.

He made the girl perform a sex act.

A few weeks after this, he was wrestling with her in the bedroom when he began molesting her. He eventually stopped because he “felt bad”.

On Nov 14, 2024, V4 was watching TikTok videos on her phone in a room.

From where she was, she could look into the master bedroom where the door was ajar.

The offender stood close to the door of the master bedroom and engaged in a sex act while looking at V4.

V4 felt that what he was doing was wrong and recorded a video of her stepfather, which she showed to a friend on TikTok.

Her friend told her to call the police, but V4 refused, as she did not want anything to happen to her family.

V4’s friend, however, told a teacher about what happened and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) was notified.

A child protection officer lodged a police report on Nov 15, 2024. The man was finally arrested later that same day.

He was assessed at the Institute of Mental Health and was found not to have any mental disorder.

SENTENCING

Deputy Public Prosecutors Sean Teh and Ariel Tan sought 16-and-a-half years’ jail and 22 strokes of the cane.

Mr Teh said this case involved “grave sexual exploitation” of four of the offender’s children from 2008 to 2023.

The most serious of these were against V4, who was subjected to repeated sexual assault over a prolonged period.

The offender also had past convictions from 1998 to 2009, which include stealing a vehicle and committing an obscene act in a public place.

Justice Andre Maniam said sexual offences in the family context are particularly troubling.

“Not only do they often involve abuse of position and breach of trust, the offences may cause the victims lasting psychological harm and damage relationships within the family,” he said.

“Given the nature of the offences and their setting, offences might not be reported until later on or not at all.”

For aggravated statutory rape, the man could have been jailed for between eight and 20 years and given at least 12 strokes of the cane.

For aggravated molestation, he could have been jailed for up to five years, fined, caned, or given any combination of these punishments.