A 38-year-old man who raped his stepdaughter when she was between eight and 10 years old was sentenced to 24 years’ jail and 24 strokes of the cane on Aug 26.
Prosecutors told the High Court that the victim suffered in silence for years before she found the courage to speak out in 2023, about two years after the last incident of abuse.
On July 11 that year, the victim’s form teacher spoke privately with her after the girl acted “abnormally” in school, the court was told.
After the girl disclosed that her stepfather had touched her, the school leaders alerted the Ministry of Social and Family Development’s Child Protective Service, which lodged a police report on the same day.
On Aug 26, the man pleaded guilty to two charges of statutory rape and one charge of aggravated outrage of modesty.
Four other charges of sex-related offences were taken into consideration during sentencing.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Lynn Tan said the man had looked after the victim since she was two years old and regarded her as his daughter.
The girl’s mother married the man in 2015 after divorcing the victim’s biological father.
The victim’s family members also included her elder brother and two younger stepbrothers.
DPP Tan said the victim was uncomfortable about being the only girl at home, as her mother often worked long hours.
As a result, the girl alternated between staying at the family home and her maternal grandparents’ flat from 2017 to 2019.
She permanently moved to her grandparents’ flat in 2019 and visited her family occasionally after school, or on weekends and during school holidays.
One afternoon between 2020 and 2021, the man and the girl were the only ones at the family’s home when she went there after school.
After she showered and dressed herself, he began touching her before he raped her in the master bedroom.
Several months later, in mid-2021, while her older stepbrother was at home, the man raped her again in the master bedroom.
The girl’s mother filed for divorce in December 2022 for reasons not mentioned in court.
However, as he was looking for a rental flat, the man continued staying with the victim’s mother.
On July 8, 2023, the girl told her aunt that her stepfather had sexually violated her.
The aunt then informed the victim’s mother, who planned to make a police report on July 13 after she had completed a parenting course to finalise her divorce.
Before she could do so, the man was arrested on July 11 following the police report lodged by the Child Protective Service.
DPP Tan sought 24 years’ jail and 24 strokes of the cane, saying that the long-term emotional damage suffered by the victim is clear from her trauma detailed in her victim impact statement.
These include difficulty focusing in school, feeling uncomfortable around male family members and acts of physical self-harm to ease her emotional pain.
The man’s lawyer, Mr Teo Choo Kee, said his client has spent his time in remand reflecting on what he had done, which was no doubt reprehensible.
He sought a 22-year jail term, noting that there was no planning or premeditation.
Selina Lum for The Straits Times
