A 37-year-old man who was on trial for allegedly committing various sexual offences against his 12-year-daughter since she was four has been fully acquitted by the High Court.

This after Justice Valerie Thean found the daughter's evidence to be inconsistent and not "unusually convincing" enough to convict her father.

The man faced 13 charges including rape, aggravated sexual assault by penetration, and showing pornography to his daughter. All of which were contested by the man.

He cannot be named due to a gag order to protect his daughter's identity.

What is the man accused of?

These were the allegations brought against the man.

According to the daughter, the man allegedly started sexually abusing her when she was in kindergarten, in 2012 or 2013, by asking her to commit an indecent act.

When she was either Primary 3 or 4, in 2016 or 2017, he supposedly showed her pornography.

Two years later, in 2018 or 2019, the man allegedly began to sexually assault her when she approached puberty.

He was also accused of violating her with a sex toy.

Judge: Daughter's evidence inconsistent and not "unusually convincing"

Thean, had examined the girl's evidence on its own merit, CNA reported.

She added that the girl's evidence must be "unusually convincing" enough for her father to be convicted on any of the charges.

She also went through the details of each charge to explain why this was not the case and where the girl's evidence was inconsistent.

What the girl said in court about dates and the acts that had happened differed from what she told the police, her school counselor, and psychiatrist.

While the prosecution argued that the girl had two types of evidence -- medical evidence and her repeated complaints of sexual abuse to friends and other people -- that corroborated her account, Thean rejected these categories and relied on the girl's evidence alone which had to be "unusually convincing".

The girl's "quality of recall"

Prior to going through the charges, the judge highlighted the girl's "quality of recall".

The girl said she had first informed her boyfriend about the sexual abuse in July 2019 during investigations.

However, during the trial, she testified that she told two friends about it in June 2019.

The judge said this raised concerns about her "quality of concern", CNA reported.

The judge also highlighted a "key event" in the girl's narrative: that she had sent another message to her boyfriend to retract her account of sexual abuse as her father had been standing beside her, pressuring her to do so.

The father's lawyers, Cory Wong from Invictus Law and Ramesh Tiwary, cited text messages from their client's phone to show that he was not beside his daughter at that point in time.

The girl then said during the trial's cross-examination that her father could have been beside her and she was unsure.

Thean added that if the girl was unsure of this matter, it would affect the reliability of her evidence.

She added that while these two issues do not mean that the girl's testimony cannot be convincing on the whole, her evidence should be assessed with these matters in mind.

Inconsistencies in key accounts

The judge also highlighted inconsistencies in key accounts.

Sex toy usage

One of these pertained to the father's alleged use of sex toys on her.

The date which the girl gave in court of when he started doing so was different from the date she wrote in a "runaway letter".

The girl also gave different dates to her psychiatrist and school counsellor.

The judge said there was little reason for her to do so as both the psychiatrist and school counsellor had questioned her on the same day.

The prosecution also obtained receipts which showed that the sex toys were bought online and delivered on Aug. 20, 2019, "well after" the dates the girl had given.

There was also no evidence that her father had any other sex toys.

Inconsistency in rape account

The judge also found inconsistencies pertaining to the most serious charge of rape against the man.

Thean noted that the girl had told the psychiatrist she had been raped twice in August 2019, but only recalled one incident in court.

The location of the incident she recalled in court was also different from what she told a friend. This friend had also testified in court.

Reliability of evidence is crucial for whether complainant is convincing

Thean highlighted that all 13 charges allege a history of abuse and grooming, without independent or reliable corroboration.

The reliability of evidence is also crucial to determine if the complainant is "unusually convincing", the judge said.

The presumption of innocence also means that doubt must be weighed towards the defence's favour.

In addition, it is crucial for sex abuses cases to have an expeditious trial in light of the "frailty" of human memory and how the passing of times might make recollection difficult.

CNA reported that the man and his lawyers looked happy upon hearing the outcome.

The prosecution said they would look at the basis of the outcome, before deciding whether to appeal against it.

Top photo via Wikimedia Commons