Youngest of 4 S'pore brothers who sexually abused younger sister for 4 years gets jail, caning

The youngest of four brothers who sexually assaulted their younger sister was convicted in court on Jul. 3.

The 18-year-old Singaporean, who committed the offences when he was between 13 and 16, was sentenced to nine years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane.

His sister had been around nine years old when he started assaulting her.

Porn addiction

The teen admitted to sexually assaulting the victim on no less than seven occasions.

At the time, she was aged between nine and 12 years old, and a primary school student.

He claimed that he had a "porn addiction", and chose to sexually assault her — among his three sisters — because she trusted him the most and would not report him to anyone.

Despite this, he repeatedly ignored her attempts at resistance; on multiple occasions, the sister pushed him away and told him "don't want".

But he would physically overpower her and assault her anyway.

"Instead of caring for her like an older brother would, he persistently chose to exploit this trust over and over again," the prosecution noted in its submissions.

"The gravity of his offending is exacerbated by the fact that he violated the victim despite being fully aware that she did not consent to the sexual acts."

Deliberate and calculated

At the time of the offences, the teen lived with his six siblings in the family home.

His parents had instructed the four brothers not to enter the girls' room, except to comb their hair, as the girls were young and the boys were already mature.

Despite this, he would go into the girls' room to sexually assault his sister.

He also assaulted her in their parents' room, and the boys' room.

The prosecution noted that the assaults were not impulsive, but deliberate and calculated.

On several occasions, he would assault her while she was asleep, and tell her to "keep quiet" so as not to wake the other family members up.

"After every assault, the accused also took pains to remind the victim not to tell anyone about what he had done," the prosecution observed.

"All these show that the accused knew exactly when and how to exploit the victim."

Abuse of trust

At the same time, the girl was being abused by her other brothers as well.

The oldest and second-oldest brothers were sentenced in May 2024, and the third a month later in June.

During the years of abuse, she did not dare to inform anybody.

She would feel "stressed and sad, but would just pretend to be happy by putting on a fake smile", the court heard.

It was only in 2022 — several years after the abuse began, and once she entered Secondary 1 — that she found the courage to report her brothers to the school.

Even after this, she felt anxious and blamed herself for not stopping her brothers.

She also felt guilty about reporting them.

Young, but aware

The prosecution noted that despite his youth, the teen knew that what he was doing was wrong and persisted nonetheless.

He also informed a psychologist that he “viewed his younger sister as a convenient target”, and acknowledged that he took steps to conceal his wrongdoing.

As a result of his actions, his sister has now been left with "a quagmire of guilt and trauma to navigate", the prosecution said.

He was convicted on two counts of aggravated rape by penile-vaginal penetration, with six similar charges of sexual assault taken into consideration.

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