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SINGAPORE: A 46-year-old man who sexually abused his underage stepdaughter was jailed for one year and two months on Monday (October 5) and received two strokes of the cane.
The man, who cannot be identified due to gag orders protecting the identity of the victim, has divorced the victim’s mother, his lawyer said.
The court heard that the man was living with the victim, then 15, and the family at the time of the crimes in 2017.
On September 15, 2017, when the man was alone with the victim in his room, he massaged her ankle before abusing her. The girl was shocked and stood still, and refused when her stepfather asked if he could accompany her while she slept.
Then he told him not to tell anyone what happened and left. The teenager cried and told a friend what happened.
After this, she stayed out of school late as long as she could as she didn’t want to be alone with her stepfather, Assistant District Attorney Sheryl Yeo said.
In the early morning of October 3, 2017, the victim slept in her bedroom, while her stepsisters, aged eight and nine at the time, slept on mattresses on the floor.
The man entered the room and sexually abused the victim, who woke up. Feeling scared, she stood still and pretended to be asleep. Her stepfather abused her a few more times before stopping.
When the victim went to school the next day, she told her friends what had happened and they accompanied her to report the incident to her form teacher. Subsequently, the girl filed a police report.
The offender pleaded guilty to one count of outraging the victim’s modesty, and a similar charge was considered.
The prosecutor asked for the sentence imposed, while defense lawyer Amarjit Singh Sidhu asked for 10 months in prison.
He said his client had four children with his then-wife and that the family of seven was together before the incident. The couple are now divorced, the attorney said.
He said his client was “a devoted husband and father” to his then-wife and their five children, including the victim.
Singh said his client is deeply sorry and has realized his mistakes, “showing remorse by pleading guilty.”
“He also promises that he will work hard to seek advice and help for his problems,” the attorney said. “Both his ex-wife and his stepdaughter forgave him and wrote letters to the court asking for a lenient sentence.”
For outraging the victim’s modesty, the man could have been imprisoned for up to two years, fined, flogged, or given any combination of these penalties.
