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SINGAPORE: A man sexually assaulted his daughter with an intellectual disability when she was between six and eight years old, and again when she was 17.
The crimes only came to light when a teacher at the victim’s special education school noticed that she was not the same and found out what happened.
The 52-year-old man, who cannot be identified due to a gag order protecting the identity of the victim, was sentenced on Monday (November 23) to 20 years in prison.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of penetrative sexual assault, including one aggravated count, and a third count of sexual assault was considered.
The offender was a dishwasher at the time of the crimes, which first took place between 2008 and 2009.
The girl shared a room with her parents, but her mother was absent the night her father sexually assaulted her for the first time.
She felt scared, but did not tell anyone what her father did because she was afraid her parents would scold her, the prosecution said. He also started hurting himself with a ruler and a stapler.
The criminal attacked his daughter again when she was 17 years old. His wife had moved out of the conjugal home a few years earlier when he sexually assaulted the girl in October 2018.
At that time, the man shared a room with his daughter, sleeping on mattresses next to each other, in a house shared with other relatives.
At 12:30 a.m. on October 26, 2018, the man drank some alcohol before laying down on his mattress. He then moved in with his daughter and started sexually assaulting her. The girl covered her face with both hands and tried to push her father away.
Finally, he fell asleep next to him and the teenager wept silently in bed, the prosecution said.
Later that day, the victim went to a performing arts class, where the teacher noticed that she looked upset and frustrated.
She pulled the victim out of class to ask if she was okay, and the teenager eventually told her that her father had touched her inappropriately. A school counselor was notified and the police were alerted.
The victim was seen by a psychologist at the Institute of Mental Health and was found to have an extremely low intelligence range. She was diagnosed with a mild intellectual disability and found to be unaware of social norms and conventional consequences for behavior.
This means you will likely require ongoing guidance and supervision to guard against undesirable influences or treatment, the court heard.
“A VERY ANNOYING CASE”
Deputy Prosecutor Chee Ee Ling asked for at least 24 years in prison and called this case “an extremely disturbing case.”
She said the man was “emboldened by his son’s naivety and silence over the years,” and said the victim was especially vulnerable as she was very young when the abuse began and had an intellectual disability.
The offenses deeply disturbed the victim, causing her to self-harm after the first offense and appearing frustrated and disturbed after the second.
“As the father of the victim, the defendant was in a position of absolute authority and influence over his life. He had a responsibility to care for the victim and protect her, especially since her mother had left home,” Ms. Chee said. .
“The victim looked to the defendant for parental love, affection and security. Instead of caring for and protecting her, the defendant cruelly abused the victim to satisfy her sexual desires.”
The victim now lives in a shelter for abused teens and is receiving special education.
After the crimes were committed, the victim’s father was evaluated at the IMH and found to have cognitive functioning for perceptual reasoning within the extremely low to borderline range. However, their level of independent functioning in the community did not meet the criteria for intellectual disability.
He was also diagnosed with an alcohol use disorder and possibly intoxicated at the time of the 2018 crime. However, he was found to have sufficient clarity of mind to know what he was doing and what was wrong.
The man said he knew he had made a mistake and said he would never drink or smoke again. He also asked the court for a chance and said that he would be a better husband and father after his release from prison.
For penetrative sexual assault on a minor, he could have been imprisoned for between eight and 20 years and received at least 12 strokes of the cane. Out of his 20 years in jail, one year is instead of spanking, as he is over 50 years old and cannot be spanked.
