Man who repeatedly molested landlord's 9-year-old daughter gets jail, caning

SINGAPORE: A factory worker who repeatedly molested his landlord's nine-year-old daughter was sentenced to four years' jail and nine strokes of the cane on Wednesday (Sep 19).

Li Yafei, a 30-year-old Chinese national, came to Singapore to work in September 2015.

More than a year later in October 2016, Li leased a bed space from his former colleague, whose name was not revealed in court to protect the identity of the victim.

Li slept on a double-decker bed in a room that he shared with his ex-colleague and his ex-colleague's daughter, who was in primary school.

The girl slept on a separate single bed next to her father. Her parents had divorced in 2013, and her father cared for her while her older sister lived with her grandmother.

The girl's father would entrust her to Li's care on occasion, due to his irregular work schedule, and asked Li to fetch her from her student care centre.

On top of this, Li also occasionally cooked for the girl in the home.

HE MOLESTED HER, ASKED IF SHE WANTED FOOD

The molestation began less than a year after he started living with the father and daughter. In July 2017, the girl was alone at home with Li, as her father was working.

The nine-year-old was lying on her bed and playing with her iPad when Li walked over and touched her knees.

When he saw that she did not respond, Li molested her over her clothes.

Feeling uncomfortable, the girl turned around and Li stopped what he was doing. He asked her if she was hungry, and the child said she wanted Chinese pancakes. 

Li went to the kitchen to make some for her, and the girl remained silent even though she felt uncomfortable, "as she did not understand what the accused was doing", Deputy Public Prosecutor Chee Ee Ling said.

On another occasion that same month, Li asked the girl, who was again playing with her iPad on her bed, if she wanted anything to eat.

While the girl was thinking about his question, Li molested her under her shorts. He did this for about a minute before going to the kitchen to cook for her.

A month later, Li moved on to show the girl a pornographic video. While she was watching the video, Li molested her over and under her clothes. He continued to do so even when the child felt uncomfortable and told him to stop.

"The victim grew increasingly distressed with the accused's sexual assaults," said the prosecutor. "She did not like what the accused was doing to her but did not dare to confide in her father as she was afraid that he would not believe her."

On Aug 23, 2017, the girl mustered her courage and told her school teacher and counsellor that Li had been touching her inappropriately. They took the child to lodge a police report.

An intellectual assessment conducted after this found the girl to be in the "very low range of intelligence", with an IQ of 76, the court heard.

Li pleaded guilty to three counts of outraging the modesty of a minor, with one additional charge taken into consideration for sentencing.

After he was arrested, Li was assessed by the Institute of Mental Health, which found that he was not suffering from any mental disorder or intellectual disability.

Li said he touched the victim to "tease her" and "play around". However, he acknowledged that he would not have done this to his own daughter, who was also nine, or to other children as it was inappropriate.

His defence lawyer told the court that Li wished to return to China after the matter.

Li could have been jailed for up to five years, fined, caned, or given any combination of these punishments.