Man sexually abuses daughter who has intellectual disability
After observing her father beat her mother, a young girl was too afraid to resist him when he began sexually abusing her.
Unbeknown to the man at the time, the girl, who was 11 years old when the abuse started, had an intellectual disability.
On Jan 28, the now 55-year-old offender pleaded guilty to three charges – one for using criminal force with the intent to outrage the modesty of someone younger than 14 years old and two charges of using criminal force with the intent to outrage the modesty of someone in a close relationship.
Another two charges will be taken into consideration during his sentencing, which has been scheduled for Feb 27.
The offender cannot be named due to a gag order protecting the victim’s identity.
Deputy public prosecutors Jordon Li and Tan Jing Min said the offender and his former wife were married in May 2006 and had two daughters.
From 2013, the four of them slept on four single mattresses placed side by side in the same bedroom.
The offender and the victim – the younger of the two girls – slept on mattresses at opposite ends.
Sometime between 2018 and April 2019, when the victim was 11, the offender went to her mattress while the other family members were asleep.
He molested her over her clothes and kissed her on the lips.
The prosecutors said the victim did not consent to her father touching her in this manner and that she felt uncomfortable and unable to move.
The man also asked the victim to perform a sex act on him, and she complied out of fear.
On two other separate occasions in December 2020, when his daughter was 14 years old, the offender molested her on her mattress again.
“At all material times, the victim did not attempt to verbally or physically resist the accused’s advances because the victim feared the accused, as the victim had seen the accused beating (her mother),” the prosecutors said.
On Dec 30, 2020, the offender’s wife and their two daughters moved to a shelter. The couple separated in 2021.
The victim was sent to a foster home in December 2022, and the offences came to light when she told her foster parents that her father had touched her inappropriately.
The victim’s child protection officer, who was notified of what had happened, lodged a police report on March 9, 2023.
DPP Tan asked for the offender to be sentenced to six years and five months’ jail, stating that he brazenly committed the “abhorrent offences” in the same room he shared with his then wife and other daughter.
“The accused’s sentence must be sufficiently harsh to reflect the court and public’s revulsion of the accused’s abhorrent criminal behaviour,” the prosecutor said.
DPP Tan highlighted the offender’s clear abuse of trust as the victim’s biological father and the vulnerability of the victim due to her intellectual disability.
The prosecution’s proposed jail sentence includes six months’ of imprisonment in lieu of caning, which cannot be imposed on the offender as he is above 50 years old.
Offenders in this age group who use criminal force with the intent to outrage modesty can be jailed for up to two years, fined, or both for each charge. Those who commit the offence against someone in a close relationship can receive double the punishment.
For the charge of using criminal force with the intent to outrage the modesty of someone younger than 14 years old, the offender can be jailed for up to five years, fined, or both.
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