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Father who repeatedly raped teenage daughter gets 26 years’ jail, 24 strokes of the cane

SINGAPORE — Calling it a “sad case” of a teenage daughter who was raped several times by her biological father, a High Court judge sentenced a technician to 26 years’ jail and 24 strokes of the cane, for crimes that “were committed in the victim’s home, a place which ought to be her sanctity”.

SINGAPORE — Calling it a “sad case” of a teenage daughter who was raped several times by her biological father, a High Court judge sentenced a technician to 26 years’ jail and 24 strokes of the cane, for crimes that “were committed in the victim’s home, a place which ought to be her sanctity”.

In passing sentence on Wednesday (Nov 14), Justice Lee Seiu Kin also said that the father, “the one person in the world” in whom the girl ought to have been able to trust, betrayed that bond to “satisfy his carnal lust” and “effectively (drove) her out of her home”.

The man, 35, who cannot be named to protect his daughter’s identity, will be appealing against the conviction and sentence, the court heard.

He was found guilty last month of two charges of rape.

His daughter, who was 14 at the time of the offences, testified during the 10-month trial that her father raped her eight times in their Punggol flat. The family of five included her mother and two younger siblings.

The teen is now estranged from her family and living apart from them, the court was told.

On Nov 19 in 2014, the teen, her father and her siblings were getting ready to go out and she went to change in the common bathroom. Her father forced his way through the door and she shouted for help, but to no avail, hearing laughter from outside instead.

After he raped her, the father warned her not to tell anyone what had happened.

In January 2015, the last of the eight occasions when she was raped, the teen was heading into the master bedroom — where her siblings were — to retrieve her mobile phone when her father grabbed her, carried her to the bedroom which she shared with her younger sister, and raped her.

During the trial, the teen’s mother described her daughter as "rebellious" and "stubborn", and claimed that she made up the allegations of rape because she "wanted her freedom" from the family.

The teen testified that she hesitated in reporting the rape to the police, for fear of “breaking up” the family.

She disclosed the matter to her then-boyfriend and he arranged for her to meet with a school counsellor on Jan 13, 2015.

The counsellor reported the case to the school principal, and it was referred to the Ministry of Social and Family Development. That same day, the father was arrested.

Investigations showed that his semen was present in the shorts she wore during the last rape.

The prosecution — led by Deputy Public Prosecutors Winston Man and Chee Ee Ling — urged the court to impose a sentence of at least 28 years’ jail, with 24 strokes of the cane, pointing out the man’s “degree of persistence” in committing the offences.

“The victim is the accused’s biological daughter. By virtue of their relationship, the victim reposed trust in the accused in his position as parent, caregiver and disciplinarian,” the prosecutors said.

“In sexually violating the victim, (he) abused this trust,” they added, noting the “egregious” degree of exploitation.

The man’s lawyer, Mr A Revi Shanker, told the court that a jail sentence of at least 28 years was “too crushing” for his client. Asking for a jail sentence of 15 years with 24 strokes of the cane, the defence lawyer said that the man was “not an irresponsible family man”, and had to look after his family.

For each charge of rape, the man could have been jailed up to 20 years, with caning and/or a fine.

He is out on a S$60,000 bail, pending the appeal proceedings.

 

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