20-year-old man gets reformative training for raping 2 underaged girls, including his sister

SINGAPORE — A 20-year-old man was sentenced on Thursday (Jan 5) to at least 12 months’ detention in a reformative training centre for raping two underaged girls, one of whom was his biological sister. 

He had earlier pleaded guilty to four charges, including rape and sexual assault by penetration. Four other charges were taken into consideration for sentencing. 

The youth and his victims cannot be named due to a court order to protect the victims’ identities. 

WHAT HAPPENED

Court documents showed that at the time of the sexual assault, the youth was a 14-year-old secondary school student and his sister was around eight or nine years old. They were living together in the same house. 

In June 2017, when the youth and his sister were in the same bedroom, he asked her to let him have sex with her. 

She refused and tried to push him away but he forced himself on her and pulled her pants down.

He then tried to rape her but failed, and made her engage in a sex act with him instead.

After that, he warned his sister not to tell anyone about what had happened. As she was afraid of him, she complied and did not tell their parents. 

A few years later on Jan 29 in 2020, he approached her while she was sleeping. 

Although she woke up while he was raping her, she kept her eyes closed and pretended to be asleep out of fear that he might harm her if she reacted.

He raped her "for some time" before he stopped and went back to sleep, court documents stated. 

She was 11 at the time. 

Sometime in 2018, the youth had also hit her with a stick on the head, causing her to bleed. 

On a separate occasion in August 2021, the youth raped a different girl. 

The victim was 13 at the time and court documents did not specify their relationship. 

The youth invited the victim to meet him at the public housing block where he lived.

They sat talking at the stairwell of the block at around 10pm. 

After some time, the youth suddenly leaned towards her and kissed her on her lips. Shocked, the victim tried to push him away but could not do so since he was much stronger than her.

Later, he pushed her onto the bottom steps of the staircase and raped her. 

He ignored her pleas to stop and it was only after some time that the victim managed to kick him. 

The youth stopped and she quickly left to go home. 

ATTITUDES THAT CONDONE SEXUAL OFFENDING 

Deputy Public Prosecutors Tay Jingxi and Ng Shao Yan called for the youth to undergo reformative training — a regimented rehabilitation programme for offenders under 21 who commit relatively serious crimes. 

They pointed to an assessment by a psychologist showing that the youth harboured attitudes that condone sexual offending.

The youth claimed that forcing sex on a girl who asked him to stop still constituted consensual sex. 

In light of this, the prosecution said: “The nature of the accused’s offences, his inclination towards sexual violence and socially unconventional sexual attitudes reveal him to be a recalcitrant sexual offender whose deviant behaviour must be nipped in the bud.” 

District Judge Kessler Soh agreed with the proposed sentence and ordered him to start his sentence on the same day. 

Addressing the youth in court, District Judge Soh said: “I hope that you truly learn from this and that when you finish your sentence, you will not commit any further offences in future.”

Anyone found guilty of sexual assault by penetration can be jailed up to 20 years, fined or caned.

If convicted of statutory rape, a person can be jailed for up to 20 years and given at least 12 strokes of the cane for each count of the offence.