SINGAPORE — Entrusted to look after his young grandniece while the girl’s parents were at work, a man instead took the opportunity to molest her on two separate occasions.

The girl, who was about eight or nine years old at the time, endured the ordeal for two hours on one occasion.

On Tuesday, the man, now 61, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years' jail after pleading guilty to two counts of using criminal force on a person with the intention to outrage her modesty.

Both the offender and the victim cannot be named to protect the identity of the girl.

WHAT HAPPENED

The court heard that at the time, the man was living with the victim’s family and was sometimes entrusted to take care of her and her brother while their parents were out at work.

The age of the brother was not stated in court documents.

Sometime in 2016, the victim’s parents had left their two children in the care of the man while they were out at work.

The man and the two children were in the hall when he approached the young girl and told her to go to the bedroom.

He told the victim to lie down, before removing both their shorts and molesting her by bringing his private parts into contact with her private parts.

“The victim kept quiet as she thought it was part of a game,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Yap Jia Jun.

The man continued to molest the girl for two hours, before he stood up to go to the toilet.

When he returned to the room, he helped the victim put on her shorts, telling the girl that she would “face problem” if her mother found out about the incident.

Two days later, the man, the victim and her brother were once again alone at home. 

While the brother was asleep in the living room, the offender called the victim to the bedroom and engaged in a similar act of molestation, this time lasting 20 minutes.

TODAY has asked the Attorney-General's Chambers how and when the offences came to light. This was not stated in court documents. 

USED UNTIL ACCUSED WAS 'SEXUALLY SATISFIED'

Deputy Public Prosecutor Yap Jia Jun sought a total sentence of four years’ jail.

She cited the fact that there was prolonged skin-to-skin contact between their private parts, and that the man had abused the trust of placed in him to take care of the girl by her parents.

Defence counsel from the Public Defender’s Office, Mr Vadivalagan P V Shanmuga Sundaram, sought a shorter jail term, arguing that a four-year term would be “crushing” for his client.

Mr Vadivalagan asked for a jail term of two to three years as the two offences were committed within a short period of time and did not involve multiple victims or any “sophisticated planning or premeditation”.

District Judge Elton Tan, in sentencing, said that “the degree of sexual exploitation was high” in this case, given the manner and duration of the touching of the victim.

The victim’s body “was essentially used by the accused for his pleasure, until he was sexually satisfied”, said District Judge Tan.

The judge added that there was also an abuse of trust by the man, a family member, who was entrusted to care for the victim.

For each count of using criminal force to outrage a victim’s modesty, a person can be sentenced to jail for up to two years, fined, caned, or be handed with any combination of such punishments.

Committing such an offence against a person under 14 years of age attracts a harsher sentence of up to five years’ jail, a fine, caning, or a combination of the three punishments.

The offender in this case cannot be caned as he is above the age of 50.