SINGAPORE — His daughter was just eight years old when he first raped her in their three-room Housing and Development Board flat.

He continued the sexual assaults for 13 years even after she pleaded for him to stop. When she could not take the “guilt” of “betraying her mother” any longer, she eventually confided in her boyfriend.

The father, who cannot be named due to a court order to protect his child’s identity, was sentenced to 26.5 years' jail on Monday (June 27) in the High Court.

The 63-year-old Singaporean pleaded guilty to one charge each of statutory rape and aggravated sexual assault by penetration, as well as two counts of aggravated rape. Another 22 similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

It was the second sex-crime case to be heard on Monday. The first case involved a 54-year-old man who was jailed for a record 45 years for multiple offences against eight children, after he pretended to be a qualified educational therapist.

WHAT HAPPENED

The court heard that in the present case, the victim was the man's only child from his second marriage, while he has two sons with his ex-wife.

He slept with his wife in the master bedroom of their flat. Their daughter had her own bedroom but it did not have an air-conditioning unit, so she occasionally slept with her parents.

Her mother was often out at work during the day while her father, who worked more flexible hours, would be alone at home with her.

He began sexually abusing the girl in December 2007 when she was finishing her Primary 2 schooling year.

While she slept in the master bedroom with him, he performed a sex act on her, then told her not to tell anyone about what he had done before leaving for work. She listened to him because she was afraid of his temper.

He first raped her the following month, before sexually abusing her all the way until August 2020 when she was 21 years old.

This all happened inside their flat, and he usually took advantage of his wife sleeping or being out at work to abuse their daughter.

On several occasions, he showed her pornography involving “father-daughter” incestuous scenarios.

Deputy Public Prosecutors (DPPs) Sheldon Lim and Ng Yiwen told the court that the victim did not consent to any of this and wanted her father to stop, but did not know how to make him stop.

“She felt confused, lost and helpless... on the one hand, she was afraid of the accused because of his temper and did not want her parents to divorce, but on the other, he was sexually exploiting her, and she felt shame and anger,” the prosecutors added.

CONFIDED IN BOYFRIEND AND MOTHER

In February 2020, she told the father that she did not want to have sex anymore. He told her that they would both “benefit” from having sex because she could lose weight and he could “reduce stress”, the court heard.

However, several months later in August, he raped her again when his wife was taking a shower.

He only stopped when he realised that his wife was about to come out of the bathroom.

He molested his daughter again the next morning, which was the final straw for her. When she left home to go to the gym, she broke down.

“(She) could no longer take the sexual abuse, and she was overwhelmed with guilt at the thought that she was ‘betraying’ her mother by having sex with the accused,” the DPPs told the court.

She then sent her boyfriend a message via the Telegram platform, telling him that she had been raped and sexually abused by her father since she was a child.

With her boyfriend’s encouragement, she told her mother and lodged a police report. The father was arrested on the same day.

The victim went to the Institute of Mental Health for an assessment, where she reported her helplessness and feeling “disgusted and dirty” over the episodes.

She also revealed to a psychiatrist that she had two self-harm episodes when she was unable to cope with her emotional distress, and had brief thoughts of ending her life. She did not make any suicide attempts.

Her father claimed during initial interviews with the police that he only had consensual sex with his daughter after she turned 18. He later admitted to his offences.

He was not found to have any mental disorders.

The prosecution sought at least 28 years’ jail, stressing that the courts need to send a clear signal “to deter any would-be predators from acting on their destructive impulses”.

“To a child, a parent is a protector — a shield from all the chaotic and catastrophic vicissitudes of life.

“The present case is thus an especially appalling one, where a father not only failed to protect his daughter, but instead actively preyed on her,” they added.

Those convicted of rape can be jailed for up to 20 years as well as fined or caned. Those aged 50 or above cannot be caned under Singapore law.