Yahoo Finance Man admits to rape, sexual abuse of daughter for 7.5 years, molesting her best friend
SINGAPORE — For seven-and-a-half years, starting from when the girl was between three and seven years old, her biological father sexually abused her, raped her and forced her to perform sexual acts while her mother was away from home.
The 44-year-old Singapore permanent resident did not stop at his daughter.
When her best friend of the same age came by to spend time with his daughter, the man also molested her.
The father pleaded guilty on Friday (26 March)in the High Court to three charges of statutory rape of his daughter when she was between nine and 11 years old. Another 19 charges of a similar nature, such as sexually assaulting his daughter, showing her pornography and molesting her friend, will be taken into consideration for sentencing.
The girl, now 13, and her father, cannot be named to protect her identity. Her mother has since divorced her husband, whom she married in 2004.
'No, I don't want to': Victim
“‘No, I don’t want to and it’s not enjoyable’: these were the words that a nine-year-old had to use to get her own father to stop sexually assaulting her,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Yvonne Poon and Lim Ying Min during the man’s plead guilty hearing.
The man, who is a European, worked as a product manager here and stayed in a condominium with his wife, their daughter and her baby brother. While the couple married overseas, they moved to Singapore in 2008.
The man first sexually assaulted his daughter when she was between three and seven years old. After watching a television programme about people drowning while swimming, the girl became afraid of showering alone and took a shower with her father. At that point, the man developed a “sexual desire” to touch the girl.
He realised then that he was a pedophile and there was “no turning back”. He continued abusing her for the next seven-and-a-half years, with the sexual assaults increasing in frequency after the family moved houses. He knew that the girl did not like the incidents as she would keep her face turned to the side when it happened to avoid looking at him.
He would go into the girl’s bedroom or ask her to enter his bedroom, before locking the door and raping or sexually assaulting her. When the girl expressed reluctance, he would say it would only take a few minutes. The girl often felt she could not protest further as the man was her father, whom she should listen to.
At times, the man would show her pornographic material from his phone or laptop. One of these was a child having sex with her father.
He also molested the girl’s best friend when the girl went over to play and watch movies. This girl stayed in the same condominium and her parents regarded the man and his wife as “close friends”.
He kissed the girl on the lips and told her to keep it a secret. Once, as the man, his daughter and her best friend watched a movie in the master bedroom, the man molested both girls at the same time while lying between them. Eventually, the girl stopped going to the daughter’s house.
The police eventually learned of the sexual assault after the girl’s best friend made a police report about the man’s inappropriate behaviour.
Girl's best friend revealed offences during first communion
In mid-June, as the girl's best friend was preparing to undergo her first communion in her home country, she was asked to confess her sins and revealed the man's offences to her in 2017. Her parents brought her to make a police report when she returned to Singapore.
Police officers went to the unit where the daughter was alone and arrested her father later that day. More pornographic material was found in his electronic devices when they were seized.
The victim’s mother also informed investigators that in the course of settling the man's affairs after he was arrested, she came across three stories involving child erotica in his email inbox, which he had downloaded and sent to himself.
By the father’s estimate, he had raped his daughter between 10 and 20 times, and forced her to perform oral sex on him more times than he had raped her.
A psychiatric report from the Institute of Mental Health diagnosed the man with pedophilic disorder but stated that his cognitive functioning was not significantly impaired.
The prosecution sought at least 30 years’ jail and the maximum 24 strokes of the cane, while the man’s lawyer, Amarjit Singh, asked for 24 to 26 years jail.
“He concedes that what he did was wrong and deplorable, but he is at your mercy, Your Honour,” Singh told Justice Mavis Chionh.
The judge adjourned sentencing to 19 April.
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