Man gets jail for sexual offences against niece
REUTERS file photo
SINGAPORE — A 29-year-old man who committed several sexual offences against his then five-year-old niece nine years ago was yesterday (Sept 16) sentenced to jail for six years and six months.
The accused, who cannot be named to protect his victim’s identity, pleaded guilty to three charges with four other charges taken into consideration, the High Court heard.
In the prosecution’s submission on sentencing yesterday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Lai said the length of the sentence “cannot be an insubstantial one” to drive home the message that such sexual offences perpetrated on young, vulnerable victims will not be tolerated.
The prosecution also raised aggravating factors that contributed to the accused’s sentence. Among them, DPP Lai said, the accused had abused his position of trust as the victim’s uncle and one of the two primary caregivers.
“The accused’s wanton disregard for such a sacrosanct relationship must be met with harsh penal consequences.”
DPP Lai added: “Instead of protecting and nurturing the victim like how a responsible uncle should do, the accused abused his position of authority by forcing her to perform sexual acts till he was sexually satisfied.”
Another aggravating factor was that the victim was only five years old, and was “utterly defenceless” against him. The accused had even put her in fear of his wrath should she choose to disclose his wrongdoing, said DPP Lai.
On one particular afternoon between June and December 2006, the victim was called into the accused’s room after she had pat her younger sister to sleep. The accused then asked her to “massage his hips, legs and then his private part”.
The second incident occurred a week later, where the accused asked her to perform the same act and fellatio on him.
A third incident in 2007 was, however, witnessed by the victim’s younger sister through the gap in the door that was left ajar. The younger sister asked the victim about the incident a few months later and they decided to tell their grandmother what happened. But their grandmother did not believe them and scolded them for making such allegations.
The victim's younger sister only revealed these incidents to her form teacher in July last year, when she was probed for not wanting to attend school. The girl told her teacher that she was worried that her youngest sister, then three, would be made to perform the same acts as she was staying with the accused and their grandmother.
Her social worker was the one who eventually reported the matter to the police, and the accused was arrested on July 19 last year.
