SINGAPORE — A 34-year-old man was sentenced to 24 months’ jail and three strokes of the cane on Wednesday (May 15) for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in his bedroom.

The man's name cannot be disclosed to protect the identity of the victim.

He pleaded guilty to one count of outrage of modesty and two counts of motor vehicle theft and riding without a valid licence.

Two other charges of a similar nature were taken into consideration during the sentencing in court.

WHAT HAPPENED

At the time of the offence, the man was 26 while the victim was 13. She is now 21.

On Dec 8, 2020, the victim filed a police report, claiming that she was sexually assaulted by the man sometime between October and November 2016 at his home.

Court documents showed that the victim's parents had separated sometime in 2006, and her mother entered into a relationship with the man in 2012.

The girl’s mother later moved in to stay with the man and shared a bedroom with him.

The victim would occasionally sleep over at his place over the weekends. She would sleep on the same bed as her mother and the man.

Sometime between October and November 2016, while lying down on the same bed and using her mobile phone, the victim felt the man's hand touching her left inner thigh and moving towards her private parts.

She tried to shake his hand off but to no avail.

Court documents stated that the man thought that the victim had fallen asleep when he sexually assaulted her. The victim's mother was still asleep at this time, and the victim did not dare to wake her up because she felt scared.

Later that same night, when the man did the same thing, the girl immediately used both her hands to push his hand away.

She then got out of the bed, sat in the corner of the bedroom and did not return to the bed for the rest of the night.

She told her mother about the incident but her mother refused to believe her and chose to stay with the man.

Over the years, the victim continued to have flashbacks and nightmares over the incident, and eventually reported it to the police in December 2020, about four years after the incident.

OTHER OFFENCES

On Wednesday, the man also pleaded guilty to two other offences — motor vehicle theft and riding without a licence. In October last year, he had ridden off on a motorcycle that he had found in Bukit Batok, which had a key left in its ignition.

He rode the vehicle for 15 minutes before parking it at a multi-storey car park near Lompang Road and throwing the helmet and key into nearby bushes.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Lim Ying Min told the court that the man also had past convictions for rioting and theft and had previously been sentenced to reformative training.

The man's lawyer, Ms Shirin Chew from Pro Bono SG, pleaded for the court’s leniency, saying that he is supporting his father who is a stroke patient and “felt remorseful for his action”.

However, in meting out the sentence, District Judge Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz noted that the man had left a lasting impact on the victim, as his actions had inflicted psychological harm on her for many years after the offence was committed.