'Only constant figure in her life': Jail for divorced father who sexually assaulted young daughter

SINGAPORE: After her parents divorced, a girl grew up in an unstable family environment, moving homes often. She preferred living with her father as she felt her mother was physically and verbally abusive.

But her own father sexually abused her, once when she was four to five and again when she was nine to 11.

The man was on Friday (Jul 15) jailed for 13 years after pleading guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of sexual assault.

Two more similar charges were considered for sentencing.

The identities of the offender, now 52, and victim are protected by gag order.

The court heard that the first assault took place in 2007, before the victim's parents were divorced.

The victim was playing alone in the master bedroom when her father came in and asked her to perform a sexual act on him. She followed his instructions.

Later, he also sexually assaulted her. She was aged four to five at the time

The offender and the victim's mother divorced in 2010. The victim mostly lived with her father after that.

Between Apr 6, 2012 and Jul 29, 2013, the offender and victim were alone at home when the man felt an urge to have sex.

He once again instructed the victim to perform a sexual act on him, and she complied. He also sexually assaulted her again. She was nine to 11 at the time.

"She complied with the accused's requests and performed the sexual acts requested of her because she trusted the accused, who was her biological father," said Deputy Public Prosecutors Jane Lim and Gerald Tan.

DISCOVERY OF OFFENCES

The victim felt disgusted by the sexual assaults. Years later, in late 2019, she confided in her mother, who became enraged and scolded the victim for not telling her sooner.

The victim replied that she only learnt about sex recently and did not previously understand why her father had asked her to do these acts. She also told her mother not to tell her father about this as she was afraid.

In July 2020, the teenager confided in her then-boyfriend about the sexual assaults by her father. She told him that these happened from when she was four to five until when she was in Primary 4.

The victim cried as she told her boyfriend about this. He advised her to make a police report, but she said she was scared and did not want her father to kick her out of the house.

During a dispute with her boyfriend later that month, the victim started crying and said that she could not sleep the night before as she had argued with her father.

She said she felt he had not been a good father to her and recalled the sexual abuse at his hands. The victim also said she was afraid of reporting the assaults to the police as she would have to go and live with her mother.

Later, the couple met one of the victim's friends, and the victim told her about the sexual assaults as well. Both the victim's friend and boyfriend encouraged her to make a police report.

The victim made a police report the next day saying that she was first molested by her father in 2006. She told her mother that she did so because she "could not take it anymore", court documents stated.

IMPACT ON VICTIM

Over the years, the victim repeatedly replayed the assaults in her head and felt anxious whenever she recalled them. She occasionally practised self-harm to distract herself from these recollections.

She was admitted to hospital and diagnosed with major depressive disorder with suicidal ideation in 2019, and reported that she had been in a low mood for a few years.

A medical report in September 2020 noted that clues to the victim's low mood included "punitive parenting" from a young age, her parents' divorce and financial issues with her father.

She said that she developed suicidal thoughts because she felt it was "unfair for her to have all these emotions", according to the medical report.

"ONLY CONSTANT FIGURE IN HER LIFE"

The prosecutors asked for a jail term of 13 to 14 years and 18 months, highlighting the victim's young age, the offender's abuse of her trust and the psychological harm she suffered.

They argued that the victim was especially vulnerable because of her parents' divorce, unstable family environment and fear of her mother.

"These vulnerabilities made her particularly susceptible to the accused who was her main caregiver and the only constant figure in her life," they said.

The punishment for procuring an indecent act from a child is up to five years' jail, a fine of up to S$10,000 or both.

The penalty for sexually assaulting a child under 14 is between eight and 20 years' jail and not less than 12 strokes of the cane. The offender cannot be caned as he is above 50.