20 months’ jail for man who sexually abused niece

SINGAPORE — She was just 10 years old when her uncle, who is six years older than her, sneaked up while she was asleep and sexually abused her.

The girl kept mum about it but was preyed upon again by her uncle last year, even though her mother was in the same room.

On Wednesday (June 22), her assailant, now 22, was sentenced to 20 months’ jail for two counts of sexual penetration and one count of committing an indecent act. He cannot be named so as to protect the victim’s identity.

The court was told that the man first laid hands on his niece in 2011. He was working in a supermarket then and had moved in with his sister’s family, where he shared a room with the victim and her younger brother.

One night, the man crawled under the blanket while the girl, then aged 10, was sleeping and committed an obscene act on her for a few minutes.

The victim neither resisted nor told anyone about it, and the man went back to sleep after the attack, the court was told.

After his sister’s family moved house, he continued staying with them. But in the new place, he shared a room with his sister and her children.

At about 11.30pm one night in January last year, while his sister and nephew were asleep, the man touched the victim inappropriately before sexually penetrating her for a few minutes.

A few nights later, he approached the victim as she was about to go to bed. Again, he caressed her inappropriately and sexually penetrated her. The victim did not resist his advances on these occasions, the court was told.

The man’s offences came to light in March last year when the girl, now 15, sought the school counsellor to seek advice on relationship matters.

According to a report from the Institute of Mental Health’s Child Guidance Clinic, the victim felt “guilty and angry” with herself for letting her uncle commit the offences and not reporting the matter to the authorities.

Pushing for a jail term of 21 to 24 months, the prosecution charged that the man had abused the trust of the girl and her family. The girl’s consent was not relevant as the man had initiated the obscene acts against her, added prosecutors, who noted that he continued his advances five years after the first act. The man has the “propensity to re-offend” if the matter had not come to light.

Pleading for leniency, defence lawyer Favian Kang said the victim’s parents had forgiven the man and would help support his rehabilitation.

What happened between the man and his niece was a “foolish mistake” that occurred from a “moment of weakness”, said Mr Kang.

He added that the duo were “childhood playmates” and had grown up together like close friends.

The man could have been jailed up to 10 years and/or fined for sexually penetrating a minor.

For committing an obscene or indecent act with a child, one can be jailed up to five years and/or fined up to S$10,000.