A 14-year-old girl was allegedly sexually abused by four of her biological older brothers over four years.

She was allegedly eight when the assault started and endured it till she was 12 years old.

Because the names of the accused and the victim cannot be released, we will refer to the four brothers as:

• A: the oldest brother, now aged 23.
• B: the second eldest brother, now aged 22.
• C: the third brother, now aged 20.
• D: the youngest brother, now aged 18.

All four committed the alleged offences against their sister when they were between the ages of 13 and 21.

C pleaded guilty in court to a charge of aggravated sexual assault on Feb. 5, 2024, reported CNA. Another seven charges were taken into consideration.

Prosecutors ask for jail and caning

Prosecutors requested eight to nine years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane for C, highlighting that the victim continues to suffer from anxiety attacks, reported ST.

The defence, on the other hand, sought a reformative training suitability report to assess if C is suited for reformative action.

Suffered abuse at the hands of her brothers

C was 16 to 17 years old when he sexually assaulted the victim in 2020, who was aged 10 to 11 then.

According to court documents, by the time C began his offences, his other three brothers -- A, B, and D -- had already sexually assaulted the victim on at least one prior occasion.

C was the last among the brothers to sexually abuse the sister. Back then, he was aware that his two older brothers had sexually abused the victim but kept mum about it.

Case background

The victim has four brothers and two sisters, and is the oldest among her sisters.

The family of nine lived together in a house with three bedrooms.

Besides the master bedroom, the court documents referred to the two other rooms as the boys' room and girls' room, which was shared separately between the sons and daughters respectively.

The parents had set ground rules that the boys were not to enter the girl's room, unless it was to comb their hair as the boys' room had no mirror.

The court heard that the mother had this rule because the three girls were still young, and the four boys were more mature.

The mother would also remind her sons to not stay inside the girls' room whenever she saw one of them inside.

What happened

Despite the reminders, C would head to the girls' room to rest, play games or sexually assault the victim, reported CNA.

In a bid to "satisfy his sexual urges", C would sexually assault and molest the victim whenever he felt like it.

In 2020, C touched the victim sexually and violated her no less than four times in the girls' room, even though he knew that she did not consent and had attempted to resist his advances.

On one particular occasion, he entered the girls' room and lay down next to the victim when it was just the two of them.

The victim told him not to touch her and tried to avoid him but the accused persisted.

The prosecution said that the victim did not struggle further as she knew what was going to happen and was afraid.

Confided in authorities

In February 2022, the victim finally gathered courage to share with the authorities in her secondary school about the sexual abuse she experienced.

The school alerted the Ministry of Social and Family Development and a police report was lodged.

The victim was examined for sexual assault at KK Women's and Children's Hospital.

C was arrested on Feb. 11, 2022.

He denied the sexual assault when the police confronted him, but admitted doing so on at least two occasions later.

Other 3 brothers to plead guilty

C's sentencing will be held at a later date.

The cases for the other three brothers are pending and they are slated to plead guilty to their respective charges in the months to come.

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Top photo from Canva.