Former cleaner gets 33 years’ jail for raping daughters

Singapore—A 55-year-old man was sentenced on Tuesday (March 9) to 33 years in jail for raping his three daughters. 

The former primary school cleaner pleaded guilty to a total of four charges: one charge of raping his oldest daughter, two for raping his second daughter, and one charge for asking his youngest daughter to engage in sexual intercourse.

There were also eight additional charges considered when he was sentenced.

The 12 charges against the man were “hardly even sufficient to encompass the extent and egregious nature of his wrongdoing”, Deputy Public Prosecutor Norine Tan is quoted in The New Paper (TNP) as saying.

“It would be fair to say that this case represents one of the worst of its kind when it relates to sexual offending.”

The identity of the man has not been disclosed in order to protect his daughters, who are now between the ages of 13 and 26.

He assaulted them sexually over a period of 14 years, from the time that each one reached the age of 11 or 12.

The man has been found to have a high risk of reoffending, having been diagnosed with paedophilic disorder, according to TNP.

The two older daughters are said to have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, with the second daughter also said to be suffering from major depressive disorder and requiring therapy.

The sexual assault of his two older daughters only ended when the youngest one reported the crimes to the authorities. 

High Court judge See Kee Oon called the man’s wrongdoings “utterly heinous and abhorrent”, adding that if the youngest daughter had not reported his actions, he would likely have gone on doing them.

“The accused had caused significant physical and psychological harm to all three of his daughters and severely violated their trust in their own father. There is a compelling need to prevent the accused from lapsing into recidivism,” said the judge.

The assault started in 2005 when the oldest daughter was about 11 years old. She was assaulted repeatedly until she turned 16 or 17 in 2010 or 2011.

At that point, he turned to his second daughter who had just turned 12. He then proceeded to sexually assault her from 2010 to 2019. He also forced her to perform oral sex on him.

Neither of the two older girls reported their father’s crimes because they were afraid of him. 

He had sworn them to tell no one.

In October 2019 he attempted to coerce his youngest daughter, who was then 12 years old, into having sex with him.

Because she had seen him sexually assault her middle sister and because she herself had been molested by him the previous year when she was 11 years old, she rejected his advances,

DPP Tan told the court, ”The accused became angry and frustrated but did not pursue the matter further.”

On the following day, she told her friends what her father had attempted to do. They advised her to tell her teacher.

The teacher then took her to the police to file a report.

After this, the police interviewed her sisters who then spoke of their father’s sexual assaults.

The prosecutor had asked for at least 35 years and four months’ jail time, which included one year in lieu of caning. He cannot be caned because he is over the age of 50.

/TISG

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