Serial drug offender who sexually assaulted young niece after showing her porn clip jailed for 14 years

SINGAPORE — A repeat drug offender, who sexually assaulted his niece while she was just six to seven years old after showing her a pornographic clip he was watching, was on Monday (April 18) jailed for 14 years. 

The man, now 52, pleaded guilty in the High Court to one count of sexual penetration of a minor and one count of a drug consumption offence. 

Seven other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing, including one charge of showing an obscene object to a person under 21 and another of molesting a minor.

Deputy Public Prosecutors Jane Lim and Samyata Ravindran said: “Instead of protecting the victim as her biological uncle, the accused turned on her and sexually exploited her for his own selfish gratification. 

“This runs counter to the very values society holds dear and, sadly, the victim will never be able to regain her lost childhood and innocence that the accused had so callously defiled.”

The man cannot be named due to a court order protecting the identity of the victim, now aged 18.

WHAT HAPPENED

The court heard that the victim moved into her grandmother’s home with her mother and her older brother in 2008 after her parents were divorced.

This was when the victim was about five years old. The offender, the victim’s uncle, was living in the same house at the time and was aged between 40 and 41.

Sometime in 2010, the man was sitting on a sofa in the living room watching pornography on a digital device. 

He called the victim over and showed her the video, the prosecution said.

"The victim did not understand the sexual nature of the acts committed by the naked man and woman in the pornographic video but felt disgusted by it.” 

After showing her the video, he made her lie on the sofa and rest her head on his lap. He then slid his hand into her underwear and sexually assaulted her.

The victim felt extreme pain and quickly sat up on the sofa, but she dared not shout or call for help because she was afraid.

She kept silent about what happened and did not inform anyone about the incident that day. 

Her uncle assaulted her the next day while she was sleeping on the sofa in the living room.

When she rolled herself away from him, he unbuckled his belt and unzipped his pants — but an alert from his mobile phone caught his attention instead.

His offences only came to light about eight years later, in mid-July 2018, when the victim visited KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital because she had abdominal pains.

After she was admitted, she was handed a form in which she declared that she was having suicidal thoughts and had tried to harm herself before.

A clinical counsellor interviewed her and the victim told the counsellor that her uncle had sexually assaulted her in the past.

The victim also told the counsellor that she would have flashbacks of the assault whenever she visited the flat and would feel scared.

The counsellor reported the matter to a medical social worker. 

On July 13, 2018, the hospital reported the case of sexual assault to the police.

CAUGHT WITH DRUGS IN HIS SYSTEM

On March 5, 2019, police officers arrested the man and took him to Bedok Division Headquarters for investigation.

Urine samples collected from him were found to contain methamphetamine — a banned drug in Singapore.

During investigations, he admitted to consuming the drug with an improvised glass pipe the day before.

He was previously convicted of possessing drugs in 1995, as well as failing to report for a urine test and consuming drugs in 2001. He was sentenced that year to six years’ jail and three strokes of the cane.

OFFENCE 'ESPECIALLY AGGRAVATING'

Asking for 14 to 15 years’ jail in total, the prosecutors argued that the man had abused his position as a trusted family member residing in the same home to gain easy access to the victim and exploited her to commit truly unthinkable and perverse acts.

The duration of imprisonment would comprise seven years’ jail for the drug charge and seven to eight years for the sexual offence. 

They said that the victim was young and vulnerable and this was especially aggravating, given that she lacked the maturity to understand the wrongfulness of her uncle’s sexual transgressions.

That the offence happened within the home also robbed the victim’s entitlement to feel safe and be able to seek refuge in the sanctity of her home.

“Minors such as the victim need, and deserve, the fullest protection of the law,” they said.

For sexual penetration of a minor under 14 years old, he could have been jailed for up to 20 years and be liable to a fine or to caning. 

For consuming methamphetamine, he could have been jailed for between seven and 13 years and given between six and 12 strokes of the cane under the enhanced punishment for repeat offenders.

However, under the law, the man cannot be caned as he is above 50 years old.