A cleaning supervisor was sentenced to 28 years in jail and 24 strokes of the cane today, after he confessed that he repeatedly sexually abused his step-daughter over four years. The horrific abuse began when the girl was a mere eight years old and continued until she was 12.
Neither the accused nor the victim can be named due to a gag order imposed by the court to protect the victim’s identity.
The court heard that the abuse began in 2011, when the man married the victim’s mother and moved in to live with her, the victim, and the victim’s half-sister at their apartment.
One night, the eight-year-old victim was suddenly awoken by someone touching her and found that it was her step-father. The man threatened to divorce the child’s mother if she spoke about the incident, so the child did not tell anyone about what had happened.
However, the abuse only grew worse. On one occasion, the man showed up at the mosque where the girl was attending religious classes and brought her home.
The man had claimed that he was fetching her to counsel her about an argument she had had with her mother. However, as soon as they reached home, the man locked the gate, slapped the girl and ordered her to go to the bedroom where he raped her.
After they reached home, he locked the gate, slapped her and ordered her to go to the bedroom where he raped her.
The man would usually rape the girl when her mother and sister were not home or when the rest of the family were sleeping. While the girl would scream during the rapes, the man threatened her that he would divorce her mother to keep her silent.
The abuse finally came to light on March 2015 when the child, then 12, fled while the man momentarily stepped away to throw away a used condom.
The girl, now 15, is presently living with her maternal grandmother.
When confronted by the police, the man lied and denied all allegations of rape before he blamed the girl for “seducing” him by exposing herself during her sleep.
The man even had the audacity to dig up the girl’s Facebook posts to show officers that she was “not a good girl”.
He finally pleaded guilty in court, sparing the victim from having to testify about the matter during trial.