Jail and caning for man who sexually abused daughter from the age of 3 and later raped her

SINGAPORE: A man who sexually abused his daughter from when she was 3 years old and subsequently began raping her was given 28 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane on Monday (Apr 26).

The 44-year-old man, who cannot be named due to gag orders protecting the victim's identity, had pleaded guilty to three charges of statutory rape in March, with another 19 charges considered in sentencing.

The man said he realised he was a paedophile and there was "no turning back" after showering with his daughter, who was frightened by scenes of drowning she saw on television.

Justice Mavis Chionh said this realisation was "chillingly" narrated in court documents.

"The greatest tragedy in this case is that she (was) robbed of her childhood innocence by her own father," she said.

The other great tragedy, she said, was that the victim was preyed upon by the person meant to protect her, and still writes letters to him to tell him that she loves him.

The offender moved to Singapore with his wife after the birth of the victim in 2008 and lived in rented condominiums. He began sexually abusing his biological daughter when she was between three and seven years old, when his wife was at work or out of the country.

He began molesting the girl and making her perform sex acts on him, showing her adult and child pornography before sexually assaulting her. The offences went on for seven-and-a-half years between December 2011 and June 2019.

By his estimation, he raped his daughter more than 10 times but fewer than 20 times.

The man also preyed on his daughter's friend, kissing her on the lips and molesting her while they were watching a movie with his daughter.

The crimes came to light in 2019, when the victim's friend revealed before her first communion that the accused had behaved inappropriately with her. Her parents took her to lodge a police report, and the authorities went to the accused's home and found his daughter there. She told them that she had also been sexually assaulted.

The man was arrested that day and the police found content depicting female minors in his devices, as well as saved links in his phone about "incest love" and similar search terms.

The victim's mother, who has since divorced the offender, later told the police that she discovered child erotica stories in the man's email inbox.

The Institute of Mental Health later found that the man has paedophilic disorder, with recurrent sexual urges or behaviour involving activities with prepubescent children.

However, no substantive contributory link was found between his disorder and the offences, as both his cognitive functioning and his volitional or emotional capability to break the law and act on his sexual desires were not significantly impaired.

The judge said his paedophilia carried no mitigating weight.

Prosecutors had called for at least 30 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane, while the defence said such a jail term would be "too crushing" and asked for between 24 and 26 years.