Jail, caning for man who sexually assaulted his stepdaughter
SINGAPORE – A man sexually assaulted his 16-year-old stepdaughter under the pretext of teaching her about sexual education.
A month later, he asked her to shower with him.
The 37-year-old man was sentenced to 20 months and 10 days’ jail and three strokes of the cane on Sept 25.
The man, who cannot be identified due to a gag order to protect the identity of the victim, has appealed against his sentence.
According to court documents, the girl had lived with her mother and stepfather in an HDB flat in Canberra since she was 12 years old.
She said the accused initially acted as a “middleman” in the household, stepping in to mediate whenever she argued with her mother.
Over time, the arguments escalated and involved the three of them.
In September 2022, shortly before the offences occurred, the victim’s relationship with her mother and stepfather improved. They quarrelled less, and communicated with one another “like friends”, according to the court documents.
On Sept 9, 2022, the girl entered the bedroom and asked her stepfather for money to buy food. According to her, the man was topless and his lower body was covered with a blanket.
As she was about to leave the room, the man asked her if she had watched pornography, and how physically intimate she had been with her former boyfriend.
The girl said she hugged and kissed her former boyfriend, who would put his hand on her thigh when they were in the cinema.
The stepfather placed his hand on her bare thigh and asked: “Is it like this?”
He then took her hand and guided it in the direction of his private parts, but the girl pulled her hand away.
The man then told his stepdaughter that he was trying to “teach” her sexual education, which the girl found strange.
He also asked her for a hug, and to lie down on the bed.
As she did so, the girl heard the blanket being drawn over her as the man lay down beside her. She closed her eyes as she was too afraid to look.
He reached over and pulled her right leg over his body.
At that point, the victim felt something touching her near the inner thigh. The man then hugged her and said: “Thank you for being my daughter, I’m sorry.”
Subsequently, they sat up and the man told the girl not to speak to anyone about the incident.
Before the girl left the room, he asked her for another hug, but told her to face the door.
The girl recorded a diary entry on her phone that same day.
On Oct 9, 2022, the man texted the girl, saying he needed help checking a bruise on his body. He later called the girl into the room, and asked the girl to close the door. The girl suggested that he use his phone or a mirror, but he refused.
The girl grew suspicious of his intention. After she told him to wait for her mother to return, the man asked if she had showered.
When the girl said no, he asked: “Do you want to shower with me?”
He explained that this was what a father-daughter relationship was like.
The girl refused and left the bedroom. She recorded a diary entry on her phone that same day and confided in her mother, saying she wanted an apology from her stepfather. She added that she would lodge a police report if he did not apologise.
However, the girl was berated by her mother, who accused her of seducing her stepfather.
The next day, the girl decided not to sit for her additional mathematics examination, as she was unsettled by the confrontation with her mother.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Adelle Tai said the girl’s account of the events was credible, given that her testimony in court was corroborated by her diary entries after the incidents.
Her accounts of both incidents were also consistent with her police statements and her disclosure to the school counsellor.
The counsellor had testified during the trial that the girl was “in tears” when she recounted the incidents.
During the trial, the man claimed his stepdaughter had fabricated the allegations to skip her additional mathematics exam and move to her grandmother’s house to escape parental supervision.
He also claimed that the victim hated him, court documents stated.
However, the prosecutor argued that both reasons were untenable, as the girl made the decision to skip the exam only after feeling exhausted from the confrontation.
On the man’s claim that the girl had fabricated the allegations to escape living with her parents, Tai pointed out that the allegations emerged when their relationship was improving.
“If the victim had wanted to fabricate allegations badly enough to risk perjury, she had ample opportunity to do so in the years prior, when the relationship was at its worst,” she said.
“The victim came forward knowing she risked disbelief. She was right. Her own mother did not believe her… She instead berated the victim for seducing the accused, persuaded her to withdraw the allegations against the accused and eventually testified against the victim.
“Yet, the victim stood firm. In her words, ‘I am upholding my justice.’ She asked for nothing more than an apology. When that was denied, she told the truth anyway.”
