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Grandad jailed 12 years for sexually abusing grandson from the age of 7

SINGAPORE — His grandson was only seven and had recently moved in, together with his parents, to live with the man and his wife. Months later, the boy ended up being molested and shown a pornographic video by his grandfather.

A 64-year-old man was on Friday sentenced to 12 years’ jail for one charge of molesting his grandson and another of aggravated sexual assault by penetration of a minor.

A 64-year-old man was on Friday sentenced to 12 years’ jail for one charge of molesting his grandson and another of aggravated sexual assault by penetration of a minor.

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SINGAPORE — His grandson was only seven and had recently moved in, together with his parents, to live with the man and his wife.

Months later, the boy ended up being molested and shown a pornographic video by his grandfather.

Worse was to come.

After a stint at the Drug Rehabilitation Centre, the 64-year-old sodomised the boy and again showed him a pornographic video.

Each time, he told the boy not to tell anyone what had happened.

The man – who cannot be named to protect the identity of the boy – was on Friday sentenced to 12 years' jail for one charge of molesting a minor and another of aggravated sexual assault by penetration of a minor. He had pleaded guilty in February and has been in remand since June 1 last year.

Three other charges of outrage of modesty and showing a pornographic video to his victim were taken into consideration for sentencing. The man cannot be caned as he is above 50 years old.

His deeds only came to light after Oct 22, 2016, when the boy's mother – the offender's daughter – confiscated her son's phone. The boy had stayed up and was playing with the mobile phone even though his mother had told him to rest early for a visit to the temple the next day.

She took his phone away and told him he would have to stay home with his grandfather if he could not wake up on time. Shortly after, the boy told his mother he did not want to be alone with the man as he had molested him.

She confronted her father, who admitted his wrongdoing and asked for forgiveness. She made a police report the next afternoon.

Defence lawyer Derek Kang said on Friday that the man does not know, to this day, why he committed the offences.

Characterising the sexual assault as "brief and limited", Mr Kang said his client was found by the Institute of Mental Health to be heterosexual and not a paedophile. But this cut no ice with Judicial Commissioner Pang Khang Chau, who said the finding was not a relevant factor for sentencing.

The court heard that the boy and his parents had moved in with his grandparents in December 2014. They lived in a four-room flat with a domestic helper.

Merely months later, in February or March 2015, the grandfather asked the boy to follow him to his room after watching television in the living room.

They lay down on the man's bed. After chatting with the boy briefly, the man pulled him over, kissed his face and neck and touched his private parts.

He proceeded to take off his clothes and similarly undressed the boy before molesting him again.

When the family's domestic helper began calling for the boy, the man panicked and told him to put on his shorts. Before the boy left the room, he told him not to tell anyone about the incident as it would create problems with his parents.

Around that time, the man also showed the boy a pornographic video on an iPad.

The man was sent to the Drug Rehabilitation Centre in December 2015 and freed in September 2016 as part of a temporary release scheme.

Barely 10 days after his release, he sodomised his grandson one afternoon when they were alone at home. He undressed them both and sexually penetrated him while they lay on the bed.

The boy felt pain and told him that he felt uncomfortable. The man hugged him and told him not to tell anyone, before leaving the bedroom to go to the toilet.

He showed the boy another pornographic video on an iPad, according to court documents.

For aggravated sexual assault by penetration of a minor, the man could have been jailed up to 20 years and fined or caned.

For outraging the modesty of a minor, he could have been jailed up to five years, fined and caned.

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