Man, 69, jailed for repeatedly molesting young granddaughter over two years

SINGAPORE — He was tasked to be the guardian and sole caregiver of his daughter’s seven children, but began molesting one of them in the evenings while her siblings were asleep.

The grandfather’s perverse actions came to light when the authorities learnt that the family’s neighbour had also sexually assaulted the same girl.

On Tuesday (June 22), the Singaporean man, now aged 69, was jailed for five years. This includes six months’ jail in lieu of 12 strokes of the cane, as offenders aged 50 or above cannot be caned under the law.

He cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, who was aged nine to 11 when he sexually violated her in 2012 and 2013. She is now 18 years old.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of molestation of a minor. District Judge John Ng took into consideration two more charges for sentencing purposes.

The court heard that the girl’s parents were incarcerated for drug-related offences. Her grandfather then became the children’s sole caregiver and they all lived in a one-room Housing and Development Board flat in the central region.

When the victim was in Primary 4 in 2012, she complained of bodily aches from taking part in soccer practice.

The man then massaged her with baby oil to relieve the aches but “began experiencing sexual urges”, Deputy Public Prosecutors (DPPs) Angela Ang and Asoka Markandu told the court.

From then on, he molested her a few times. Once in 2013, he called her into his bedroom to violate her when everyone else was asleep.

He stopped doing this sometime in 2013, before the girl’s mother was released from prison the following year. The girl kept silent as her grandfather was the only one supporting them financially and she did not want to cause hardship to the family.

His offences surfaced in 2017, after the sexual assault that their neighbour committed against the girl between 2016 and 2017 was uncovered. 

The neighbour was sentenced in March 2019 to 20 years’ jail and 16 strokes of the cane.

The grandfather was later remanded in the Institute of Mental Health, where a forensic psychiatrist found that he did not have paedophilic disorder but displayed a risk of reoffending as he had not shown remorse.

DPP Ang, who sought five-and-a-half years’ jail, said that the victim was “exceptionally vulnerable” due to reasons such as her difficult family background and young age. The man had also shown a high level of premeditation, she argued.

In mitigation, the man — who did not have a lawyer — pleaded through an interpreter for a lenient sentence, and asked the judge to consider his old age and poor health.

Those convicted of molesting a minor under 14 can be jailed for up to five years, fined, caned, or be punished with any combination of the three.