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SINGAPORE: A 48-year-old man drove his teenage niece to a parking lot instead of taking her to school, asked her to sit on his lap, and repeatedly kissed her on the neck. When she tried to pull away, he tightened her hug.
The man, who cannot be identified due to gag orders protecting the identity of the victim, was sentenced to 20 weeks in jail on Thursday (October 22) on one count of indecent act with a child.
The court heard that the man had “a close relationship” with the victim, who admired him growing up and treated him like his father.
The man would express his affection for her by hugging her, sitting her on his lap, and kissing her cheeks.
By 2015, the victim’s mother asked the accused to refrain from having any unnecessary physical contact with her daughter, who was going through puberty.
The man agreed that it would be inappropriate for him to continue to express physical affection for the victim and stopped doing so.
However, on the morning of August 2 last year, the 13-year-old was on her way to take a bus to school when she ran into her uncle on an empty deck.
He offered to drive her to school and she agreed after “a lot of persuasion,” the court heard.
Instead of taking the teen to school, the man walked past the building and into a multi-story parking lot.
The girl realized this, but assumed that her uncle was not allowed to stop his van at the school entrance as it would obstruct traffic.
At approximately 7:30 a.m., the man parked his truck on the first floor of the parking lot and his niece thanked him for driving her to school.
He told her that he missed her and asked for a hug, which she gave him. He then told her to get into the back of the truck and sit on his lap, and she obeyed.
While the girl was on his lap, the man kissed her neck several times and took pictures with her on his phone.
The girl struggled, but her uncle tightened her hug. He let her go alone when she said she was late for school.
The teenager was “shocked and disappointed” and texted her mother to tell her what had happened. He also reported the matter to a teacher once he arrived at the school.
She later filed a police report and was seen at the Mental Health Institute’s child guidance clinic, where she said she was “upset, sad, and frustrated” about what her uncle had done.
Assistant District Attorney Colin Ng asked for at least five months in jail and said the man had “completely betrayed the trust” of the girl.
He added that the incident “certainly traumatized” the victim and left an “indelible scar.” The girl had suffered a nightmare from the incident, he added.
The man’s lawyer asked for no more than four months in jail, saying his client was a first-time offender who was fully cooperative and repentant.
The judge granted him a postponement of his sentence for two weeks to settle his affairs.
For an indecent act with a child under the Children and Adolescents Act, the man could have been imprisoned for up to five years, fined up to S $ 10,000, or both.
