Man began molesting daughter when she was 9 years old, raped her several times at age 15

He was sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane.

Jane Zhang | February 23, 2021, 04:00 PM

A Singaporean man began molesting his biological daughter when she was only nine years old.

When the girl was 15, her father then began to rape her repeatedly.

On Monday (Feb. 22), the 44-year-old man pleaded guilty to three rape charges. Another 24 charges were taken into consideration.

He was sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane.

Began molesting her after she moved back in with biological family

According to court documents seen by Mothership, the man and his wife have four biological children — three sons and one daughter.

However, the daughter lived with and was raised by her maternal aunt from when she was born until she turned nine years old. During this time, she would only meet with her biological family on weekends for outings.

In June 2013, when the girl was nine years old and in Primary 4, she moved in with her biological family and shared a bedroom with one of her brothers.

In August 2013, the man entered his daughter's bedroom while she was asleep and molested her under her clothes. He continued to molest her at least once a week for five years, until she was 14.

The girl did not consent to the acts, and felt scared and uncomfortable. However, she did not react because she did not know what to do.

Ran away from home

In May 2018, the girl ran away from home because she felt stressed and mentally affected by being molested by her father, among other troubles.

She returned home the following day, after a missing persons report was lodged.

After she returned home, her father stopped molesting her for a while. However, he began to sexually assault her again in December 2018.

When her father tried to molest her while they were home alone together, the girl told him that she was not comfortable with his actions, and went to the toilet to get away from him.

However, when she came out of the toilet, her father punished her by making her stand facing the wall for an hour.

Locked her out of the flat

The man also told his daughter that he was "not comfortable" being in the flat alone with her.

From then on, almost every afternoon for a month, when no one else was home, the man would lock his daughter out of the flat so he would not be alone with her.

She would only be allowed back inside once her mother returned from work at around 7pm.

When her mother asked her father why their daughter was outside of their flat, her father said that he was punishing her for not doing housework.

Raped her when she was 15

In January 2019, when the girl was 15 years old, the abuse progressed from molest to rape.

The rape happened after she returned home from school, did some housework, and went to her bedroom to rest. No one else was home other than her father.

The man then told his daughter to go to his bedroom. Once she was inside, the man locked his bedroom door and raped her.

He proceeded to rape his daughter at least once a month between January and June 2019, without using a condom.

Even when his daughter was menstruating, the man would still sexually assault her by forcing her to perform oral sex on him.

The girl did not consent to the acts, but did not tell anyone because she was afraid that he would punish her. She also felt that she needed to obey her father.

She also was worried that her family would be broken up if she told anyone about the sexual abuse.

Friends noticed she was moody

On Jul. 31, 2019, the girl deliberately stayed out after school in order to avoid being at home alone with her father. However, she was scolded by her mother for coming home late.

On Aug. 1, 2019, three of her secondary schoolmates noticed that she was moody, and asked her repeatedly to tell them what was wrong.

She was initially reluctant to share, but eventually began to tear up and told them that she had been scolded by her mother the previous day for coming home late, but that she had not wanted to go home on time because her father always harassed her.

The next day, her schoolmates asked her whether, when she said that her father had harassed her, she meant that she had lost her virginity. The girl said "Ya", and began to cry.

Her schoolmates then reported the matter to the girl's form teacher, and the matter was escalated to the police on the same day.

She was sent to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital for a medical examination, and to the Child Guidance Clinic for a psychiatric assessment.

The psychiatric report stated that the girl used to have flashbacks and repetitive memories of what her father did to her, but that she does not have flashbacks now and thinks less of the matter.

Prosecution asked for jail and caning sentences

Deputy Public Prosecutors (DPPs) Stephanie Koh and Lim Yu Hui called for a sentence of at least 26 years' imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane, in order to "denounce such abhorrent conduct".

Namely, they called for two consecutive sentences of at least 13 years' imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane per charge.

The DPPs said that when the girl moved in with her biological family when she was nine, her father "ought to have provided her with a loving and safe family environment".

Instead, they said, she "unknowingly entered the lion’s den", and she was "unable to feel safe even in her own bed at night".

Under the Penal Code, the man could have been jailed up to 20 years, as well as a fine or caning, per count of rape.

Top image via Bill Oxford on Unsplash.