Factory worker jailed 4 years for sexually exploiting landlord’s 9-year-old daughter with low IQ

SINGAPORE — Although he knew that his actions were "inappropriate" and he would not do such things to his own daughter, Li Yafei sexually exploited his landlord’s nine-year-old daughter. 

Li, 30, was sentenced to four years’ jail and nine strokes of the cane on Wednesday (Sept 19) after admitting to three counts of outrage of modesty of a minor under 14.

Another charge of showing his victim — who was found to have low IQ — a pornographic video was taken into consideration for the sentencing of the Chinese national, who has worked in Singapore since 2015.

WHAT LI DID

The court heard that Li and the girl’s father were formerly co-workers. He started renting a bed in the girl’s house from October 2016, when she was eight.

He slept in the same master bedroom as the girl and her father. The victim, who cannot be named due to a court order, had been living with her father after her parents divorced in 2013.

The girl’s father also rented another spare bedroom in his flat to another couple.

Due to his irregular work schedule, the girl’s father would ask Li to help fetch her from her student care centre after she was done with classes. Li would also occasionally cook for the girl in the flat.

In total, Li molested the girl — who was found to have an IQ of 76 after an assessment by the Child Guidance Clinic — three times while her father was at work and they were alone in the flat.

One afternoon in July last year, Li touched her knees as she laid on her bed playing with her iPad. She had just turned nine years old.

She stared at him and continued playing on the device. He then molested her over her clothes.

When the girl felt uncomfortable and turned around, he stopped his actions and asked if she was hungry. He then made pancakes for her at her request. She remained silent afterwards as she did not understand what Li did to her.

Later that same month, she returned home from school and again laid in bed to play with her iPad. Li, who was lying in his bed then, went over to ask her if she wanted to eat anything.

While she thought about that, he molested her again, this time under her shorts. He continued doing so for about a minute before going to the kitchen to cook for her.

Sometime in the next month, Li was watching a pornographic video on his mobile phone when the girl sat beside him. He showed her the video, which showed a naked man and woman having sex.

While she watched the video, he molested her over her clothes for several seconds, before doing so under her shorts. She told him to stop as she felt uncomfortable, but he continued his actions for about 10 seconds.

The girl grew increasingly distressed with Li’s sexual assaults, but did not dare to confide in her father as she was afraid that he would not believe her.

On Aug 23 last year, she informed her school teacher and school counsellor that Li had been touching her inappropriately. They then took her to the police station to lodge a police report.

Li was arrested and underwent an assessment at the Institute of Mental Health. There, he told a doctor that he touched the victim only to “tease her” and “play around”, but acknowledged that he would not do this to his own daughter as it is inappropriate.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Chee Ee Ling pointed out several aggravating factors, including the “high degree of sexual exploitation” and the fact that Li’s actions were not fleeting in nature.

“He preyed on the victim when they were alone at home... he took calculated steps in sexually grooming her,” the prosecutor added.

Defence lawyer Melvin Loh said Li simply wished to serve his sentence and go back to his family in China.

For each charge of using criminal force to outrage a minor’s modesty, he could have been jailed up to five years, fined or caned — or given any combination of the three.

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