High Court judge calls for preventive detention suitability report for paedophile who sexually assaulted two underage grandnieces

• Preventive detention is a severe form of punishment that locks away a recalcitrant offender for public safety
• The court is looking to see if a 60-year-old man is suitable for preventive detention
• The man has been assessed to have a paedophilic disorder
• Before his latest offences, he had been jailed in 2001 for the aggravated rape of his former stepdaughter
• She was under 14 at the time

SINGAPORE — A High Court judge has called for a preventive detention suitability report for a 60-year-old man who pleaded guilty earlier this year to sexually abusing his two underage grandnieces four to five years ago. 

Preventive detention is a severe punishment imposed only when the court is satisfied that a recalcitrant offender should be locked away to protect the public.

Justice Dedar Singh Gill, who called for the report on Wednesday (Dec 1), then ordered for a pre-trial conference in January, where fresh dates for a hearing will be given.

None of the parties involved in this case can be named to protect the identity of the victims.

The oldest victim, referred to in court papers as V1, is now aged 16, while her younger sister, V2, is 13.

In August this year, the man admitted to two charges of sexually penetrating his grandnieces and one count of molest involving one of the sisters.

A psychiatric assessment of the accused concluded that he has paedophilic disorder, but was not of unsound mind at the time of the offences.

The psychiatrist said that he believed the accused would benefit from treatment, but he was also “guarded” about whether the accused’s condition could improve.

This was because of the accused’s recurrent sexual behaviour involving multiple children and his refusal to acknowledge his abnormal sexual preference towards children.

THE CASE

In 2001, the man was convicted for the aggravated rape of his then-stepdaughter, who was under the age of 14, and given 24 strokes of the cane on top of his jail sentence.

Court documents showed that when the man was released from prison in 2013, he moved in with his older sister, now aged 66, and her husband in their three-bedroom apartment. 

Residing in the unit as well were the couple’s grandchildren, who included the victims and their brothers.

The victims’ mother, now aged 39, also stayed with them, but moved out in 2016 with V1.

The accused slept in the living room, while the rest of the family occupied the bedrooms. 

The prosecutors said that sometime in 2016, V1 — then aged 11 — was sleeping alone in her room at night as her mother was out working.

Taking advantage of the woman’s absence, the accused entered the bedroom and stood beside the girl.

As she slept, the man slid his hands under her shorts and penetrated her private parts, which woke her up.

The girl asked her granduncle what he was doing, and he responded by saying that he was “trying to prevent her from falling off the bed”.

The following year, the prosecutors said that V2 — who was around nine years old — was playing a mobile phone game in the living room one afternoon after returning home from school.

Aside from the accused, who was in the same living room with the girl, the only other person at home was the victim’s grandmother, who was in her own bedroom at the time. 

The prosecutors said that the accused told the girl to sit on his lap.

When she obeyed, he slid his hands under her long pants and touched her inappropriately over her panties.

Scared, the girl jumped off his lap, ran into her room and closed the door, but not before the accused told her not to tell anyone about what had transpired.

A few days later, V2 was similarly playing games on her mobile phone in the living room when the accused again asked her to sit on his lap.

After she did so, the man penetrated her privates with his finger.

The accused’s crimes against his grandnieces were uncovered when V2 ran away from home in 2019 and was found by the police.

She told them that she did not want to go home because she did not want to stay with her granduncle and revealed that she had been sexually abused by him.

RECURRING NIGHTMARES, FEAR OF MEN

Medical reports from 2019 found that while “no obvious tears” were seen on V1’s hymen as a result of the sexual violation by the accused, V2 had “old tears” caused by the accused’s actions.

The victims’ child guidance clinic reports stated that V1 felt angry about the offences and about her sister’s account being believed over hers.

The report added that the older girl had nightmares about her granduncle touching her inappropriately, and even wondered if she had done anything wrong to deserve it. 

As for her younger sister, she began fearing that other men might try to molest her and she “tries to avoid them accordingly”.

For each of his two sexual assault by penetration charges, the man could be jailed for up to 20 years. For molestation, he could be jailed for up to five years and also fined.

He cannot be caned as he is above 50 years old.