Jail, caning for father who molested daughter while punishing her for failing exam

SINGAPORE — Angry that his daughter had failed her year-end examinations, a man wanted to punish the 11-year-old girl but ended up molesting her instead.

On Monday (May 10), the 34-year-old man was given two years’ jail and six strokes of the cane after he pleaded guilty to outraging the modesty of his daughter, now aged 14.

The man cannot be named to protect the identity of his daughter.

The court heard that the incident happened sometime in December 2017.

The girl was in the living room watching television with her two brothers when the man told her he wanted to see her in his master bedroom as he was upset that she had failed her year-end examinations.

When they were alone, he closed the door and instructed his daughter to sit on the floor and close her eyes before he proceeded to punish her by pinching and slapping her all over the body except for her face.

He then lifted the girl’s shirt up to her armpit, which caused her bra to become unhooked and exposed her chest. The man continued pinching and slapping the victim, but this time he focused on her chest.

The man had admitted during investigations that he “desired to touch” his daughter’s chest when he saw it exposed.

When the girl asked if her punishment was over, the man said it was and let her go.

However, he told investigators that he kept thinking about his daughter’s chest and told the girl the following day that he wanted to punish her again.

Similar to the previous incident, he called her to the master bedroom and repeated the same instructions before he began molesting her.

Feeling uncomfortable, the girl opened her eyes and cried upon seeing what her father was doing to her. It was only when she started crying that her father said that her punishment was over and let her go.

The incident came to light only in January 2018 when the girl confided in a friend at school what had transpired, and her friend told her form teacher. The matter was escalated to the school’s management staff members, who then called the victim’s mother.

Both the victim and her mother were accompanied by the school’s management to KK Women's and Children's Hospital for a medical examination where staff members there later alerted the authorities to a case of sexual assault.