Man on trial for sexually assaulting daughter's 9-year-old friend

SINGAPORE: A 60-year-old man went on trial in the High Court on Tuesday (Mar 15) for sexually assaulting his daughter’s friend, who was nine years old when the offences allegedly started.

The assaults allegedly happened when the man went to visit his daughter, who lived with the victim’s family from early 2015. His daughter moved out by early 2016.

The incidents were only discovered about three years later, when the topic of sexual abuse was being taught in class and the victim was seen crying.

The accused faces two charges of aggravated sexual assault and five charges of aggravated outrage of modesty.

He and the victim cannot be named due to a gag order on their identities.

Deputy Public Prosecutors Jane Lim and Lim Ying Min will lead evidence from 14 witnesses for their case.

The accused is represented by defence lawyers Joel Wang and Haneef Abdul Malik.

ACCUSED VISITED WEEKLY

The court heard that the victim stayed with her father and grandmother in a three-room flat at the time. Her parents were separated.

The accused’s girlfriend at the time was a friend of the victim’s grandmother. Sometime in 2015, the girlfriend asked the victim’s grandmother to help take care of the accused’s daughter.

The grandmother agreed, and the accused’s daughter moved in with the victim’s family sometime in early 2015. She and the victim were the same age.

The accused visited his daughter at the victim’s house on a weekly basis. During these visits, he would usually sit on the sofa in the living room.

According to the prosecution’s case, the man is accused of committing a series of sexual assaults against the victim while his daughter lived in the flat.

Most of these alleged assaults happened when he and the victim were alone on the living room sofa.

During one of the assaults, he allegedly pressured the victim to touch his private parts even though she kept saying no. He told her it was alright and not to tell anyone, and she complied.

On another occasion, the victim was in the kitchen when the accused allegedly moved her hand to his private parts. She broke free and hid in the toilet, before coming out to hide in her bedroom.

The accused then knocked on her bedroom door. Thinking it was her grandmother, the victim opened it. The accused allegedly assaulted her again before she pulled away and slammed the door shut.

The victim eventually complained to her grandmother to get the accused out of their house. This resulted in the accused’s daughter moving out by early 2016, and the alleged assaults stopping.

During a class that covered sexual abuse in April 2018, a student noticed the victim crying and informed the form teacher.

The form teacher asked the victim what happened. She replied that she was reminded of something that had happened to her, but kept saying she did not want to talk about it.

The teacher brought the victim out of class. After much probing, she said that she was sexually assaulted by a friend’s father when she was in Primary 4. She also told this to a school counsellor whom she was referred to.

The school met the victim’s father and told him what happened, after which he brought his daughter to make a police report.

IMPACT ON VICTIM

Dr Bernardine Woo, a psychiatrist at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), examined the victim in September 2018.

According to her report, the victim suffered a panic attack after the sex education class in school.

She was tearful and appeared distressed when describing the alleged assaults during the examination. 

She was found to be sad, irritable, fearful and angry after the incidents. She experienced recurring thoughts of the alleged abuse, and difficulty concentrating in class.

The victim was also fearful of men, frightened when people touched her and frightened of sexual words, according to Dr Woo.

The trial continues on Wednesday.

For each count of aggravated sexual assault, the accused could be jailed between eight and 20 years and caned not less than 12 strokes.

For each count of aggravated outrage of modesty, he could be jailed up to five years, fined, caned or any combination of these punishments.