Father of four gets 44 months’ jail, nine strokes of the cane for repeatedly molesting daughter

SINGAPORE — The girl had been molested by her father three times in their home and told her mother about it, but the police were only called when he molested her for the fourth time, and the girl’s grandmother could no longer withhold what she knew.

For his actions, the father of four was sentenced to three years and eight months behind bars, as well as nine strokes of the cane, in the State Courts on Wednesday (Sept 25).

The 40-year-old, who cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the girl’s identity, was found guilty of four molestation charges last week. 

These relate to four separate occasions involving him rubbing his private parts on her buttocks — on Sept 13 in 2015, and on Sept 30, Oct 10 and 12 in 2016. The first incident happened when the girl was 12.

District Judge Jasvender Kaur allowed him to begin serving his sentence on Nov 1, after the man told the court that he needed time to work and “prepare enough money for my family”.

The judge also increased his bail amount by S$5,000 to S$20,000, which was posted by his mother.

SHOWED DAUGHTER HIS PRIVATE PARTS FOR ‘EDUCATION’

The prosecution had sought at least five years’ jail and the same number of strokes of the cane imposed, citing an “extremely grave betrayal of trust” by the father.

The man — who did not have a lawyer — earlier claimed that he had shown the girl his private parts as “education and creation of awareness about the boundaries that should be in place in a friendship”.

During the trial, he denied doing this at all, but added that he might have “indicated” the general area of his crotch to his children while advising them on their lives.

While the girl, her brother and their mother had given statements to the police that incriminated the man, they distanced themselves from the statements during the trial, saying that certain parts were untrue.

Prosecutors argued that the girl and her mother had strong reasons to lie. The girl testified that she loved her father and did not want anything bad to happen to him, while his wife told the court that she also loved him and “always forgives everyone”.

WIFE TOLD HIM TO SWEAR BY THE QURAN

The man first molested the girl when she was 12 years old in the family’s master bedroom in 2015. 

She told her mother about it but when she confronted her husband, he cried and begged for forgiveness.

Despite this confrontation by his wife, the man went on to molest their daughter three more times.

After the second incident on Sept 30, 2016, the girl again told her mother about her father’s actions. She added that she felt “stickiness” on the back of her pants after that and went to change her clothes.

The girl also complained to her maternal grandmother, who lived with them in the flat.

The grandmother said that the girl had approached her because she could not take it any more as the father had done this to her “very often”.

On Oct 10, 2016, the man molested the girl again, this time involving skin-to-skin contact.

Again, the girl told her mother about it. The mother reacted by texting the grandmother, who replied that he had “no shame”.

After the final incident two days later on Oct 12, 2016, the grandmother called the police.

The girl’s mother returned that afternoon to find police officers in their home and got her husband to swear on the Quran that he had never molested their daughter.

The police later arrested the father and forensic results showed that the father’s DNA profile was on his daughter’s back.