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A former children's camp instructor in Singapore pleaded guilty on Mar. 7 for raping his daughter when she was between 12 and 13 years old.
The Singaporean man, now 45 years old, was also charged with raping and sexually abusing his other daughters for 14 years, and on one occasion, starving some of his seven children for four days as punishment for not completing household chores, Today reported.
His crimes only came to light after one of his daughters reported her father to the police after being raped by him in 2018.
The man is set to be sentenced next week.
Threatened to stop sending her to school if she did not have sex with him
The man has five children from his current marriage, and two children from a previous marriage.
One of the victims, identified as V1 in court documents, is one of his daughters from his current marriage and is now 16 years old.
According to CNA, the man began sexually abusing V1 in 2016 when she was in Primary 5.
Her father called V1 into his room and showed her a pornographic video of a man and girl engaged in sexual acts.
He told her the man was her father and the girl was also in Primary 5.
He made her "pinky-promise" not to tell anyone about the encounter.
Between 2016 and 2018, the man would sexually abuse V1 by touching her chest and buttocks, and having sex with her. This often happened at night when his wife was out working.
In 2018, the man told V1 she needed to have sex with him every month or he would stop her from going to school.
This threat made her afraid to physically resist her father as she did not want to be home all day and potentially be sexually abused by him more.
Her father would also ignore her verbal protests to the sexual acts.
Today reported that she was afraid to tell anyone, as she feared that no one would believe her and she would be sent to a girls' home.
The man cannot be named to protect the victims' identities.
Raped daughter when showing her new family home
In September or October 2017, the man brought V1 to visit the family's new flat in Canberra, which was still under construction at the time, reported CNA.
He asked his then-12-year-old daughter to take a shower with him, and after drying themselves off, he brought her to her would-be bedroom and placed newspapers on the cement floor.
He told her to lie on her back, then put a condom on and raped her.
He made her promise not to tell anyone.
Conducted "body checks" on his daughters
In 2018, the man would also conduct "body checks" on V1, and two other daughters, identified as V2 and V4 in court documents, who were 14 or 15 and 15 or 16 at the time.
During one of these "body checks", the man called his daughters into the master bedroom one at a time.
When V1 went in, her father told her to remove her underwear and lie down on a settee. He would tell her he was cleaning her private part, and performed a sex act on her.
The victim was uncomfortable and in slight pain, reported CNA.
The man then took a photo of her private parts with his phone and asked her to put her clothes back on.
He then called the three girls back in the room together, and showed each girl a photograph of her vagina on his phone.
He gave the girls "instructions" on how to clean their vaginas "properly" after menstruating and then deleted the photo.
Cut off electricity and starved children and for four days
During the September school holidays in 2018, the man got angry at V1, V2 and V4 for bringing their younger siblings downstairs to play before completing their household chores "to his satisfaction", reported CNA.
To punish them, he did not allow them to eat for four days, and threw away all the food in the house.
According to Today, the children only drank tap water and ate food that was smuggled to them by other family members.
The father also went to the extent of binding large bottles of water that were in the refrigerator so that he would know if his children tampered with them.
He also cut off electricity to the family's lights, refrigerator and air-conditioner.
According to CNA, the family only resumed eating and drinking normally four days later, when it was one of the children's birthday.
Sisters encouraged V1 to report father after finding out about rapes
On the night of Nov. 16, 2018, after finding it strange that V1 had showered in the master bedroom, her sisters, V2 and V4, approached V1 to ask her why she had done so.
She broke down and confided in them that their father had just raped her, and that he had done so since she was in Primary 5, according to CNA.
V2 persuaded her sister to make a police report, and they left their house at around 12:20am pretending that they were going to dispose rubbish.
They decided to go to a police station far away from their home in Bedok, as they were afraid that their father would find them.
They took a Grab car which V2's boyfriend booked to the police station where V1 made a police report that her father had been sexually assaulting her.
Father tries tracking them down
After his daughters left, the man tried to search for them at three police stations but failed.
According to Today, it was later discovered that the man had visited 10 websites including an article with the title "4 Simple Ways to Cheat a Polygraph Test (Lie Detector)".
He also asked his wife to persuade V2 to lie to the police for him.
He was arrested on Nov. 17, 2018, a day after the police report was lodged.
V1 was taken to KK Women's and Children's Hospital where she was warded for a week, and then spent another two weeks at a children's home before returning home.
Prosecutors seeking 32 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane
According to Today, prosecutors are seeking 32 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane.
They said the man's actions were "chillingly brazen".
The man had wanted to claim trial before deciding to plead guilty, which meant that V1 had to relive the traumatic incidents while trying to prepare for her N-level exams, said the prosecutors.
The man's pro bono lawyer sought 26 to 28 years in jail and 24 strokes of the cane.
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