Man given 12 years’ preventive detention for sexually abusing his neighbour's 13-year-old children: Report
SINGAPORE: A man who repeatedly sexually abused his neighbour’s son and daughter before giving them cash and cigarettes was sentenced to 12 years’ preventive detention on Monday (Sep 27), TODAY reported.
The 64-year-old man, who cannot be named due to gag orders protecting the identities of the victims, started exploiting the children when they were 13.
He pleaded guilty in July to four counts of sexual penetration of a minor under 14. Another 11 similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.
Preventive detention is a harsher form of punishment that places a recalcitrant offender in jail for seven to 20 years in order to protect the public from the offender. It does not offer the usual sentence remission for good behaviour.
The man has a criminal record going back to the 1970s. Past convictions include theft, possession of drugs and armed robbery.
His sexual abuse of the siblings was uncovered only when the girl lodged a police report that her father had raped her, leading to further investigations.
WHAT HAPPENED
The court heard that the offender worked as a dishwasher and lived alone in a Housing Board flat at the time of the offences.
The victims lived in the same block. Their father would sometimes invite the offender to their flat, where the man would ask for cigarettes.
The boy occasionally ran into the offender at a coffee shop near their home and began asking him for cigarettes.
Eventually, the man started to invite the boy to his flat to chat. On at least two occasions in 2016, the man played pornography on his laptop for the child to watch.
The offender asked the boy if he could perform a sex act on him and the boy complied. The victim felt disgusted afterwards, but took S$20 and a few cigarettes from the offender before leaving.
He began asking the boy's sister for similar acts in 2017.
The girl remembered her brother saying that the offender had given him cigarettes and approached him for some.
On at least two occasions, he gave her cigarettes and cash – S$40 to S$50 – after sexually assaulting her.
The offences went undetected until Nov 2, 2019, when the girl lodged a police report saying that her father had raped her.
The girl’s father has been charged and his case is pending, according to TODAY.
