Jobless man sexually assaulted, raped mistress' daughter for 7 years -- starting when she was only 7

On an almost daily basis for seven years, a man sexually assaulted the daughter of the woman whom he was having an affair with.

The man, who cannot be named so as to protect the victim’s identity, was sentenced to 34 years’ jail and the maximum 24 strokes of the cane on Monday (Feb 26) after pleading guilty to four charges of statutory rape.

Another 17 charges -- including statutory rape, molestation, committing an indecent act, and sexual penetration of a minor --were taken into account during the sentencing, reports The Straits Times. 

The High Court heard that the abuse had started when the girl was as young as seven to eight years old. 

When the girl told her mother that the man was molesting her, her mother got angry with her instead and did not intervene. 

In the years that followed, the man progressed to raping her and forcing her to perform oral sex on him. 

The abuse sometimes occurred in broad daylight, while others were at home. 

The girl became so conditioned by the man’s abuse that she automatically stripped whenever he called for her. 

When the girl was 13, she decided that she could no longer endure the abuse. 

She lodged a police report but was abandoned by her mother. 

The victim's mother has been visiting the man in prison every other week. 

After his arrest, the man told the police that the girl had seduced him and flirted with him by eating ice cream and bananas in a provocative manner. 

Deputy Public Prosecutor David Khoo urged the court to impose a harsher sentence which would serve as a deterrent message to protect the young and vulnerable.

He said:

“This is one of the most heinous cases which we have ever seen.”

DPP Khoo also noted that the man, despite having both a wife and a mistress, was not satisfied and even raped the girl.

He ‘robbed her of her innocence’, said the DPP.

The man was married but has been in an affair with the victim’s mother, a divorcee, since 2006.

Between 2010 and 2014, the girl was sent to live with the man and his family, which included his wife and son, during the school holidays. 

He started molesting the girl in the flat, and even taunted the girl, telling her:

"If you want to tell on me, go ahead."

The girl did not know that the acts committed were wrong but told her mother anyway, due to her feeling pain and distress, reports Lianhe Wanbao. 

Her mother subsequently confronted the man over his actions and the two quarrelled, but the abuse continued. 

Upon attending sex education classes in Primary 5, the girl realised that the acts were wrong, but she did not know what to do. 

In 2014, the man told his mistress and the girl to move in with his family, citing that he could ‘take care of them’. 

He was jobless and relied on his wife to support the family. 

He also got a monthly allowance from the girl’s mother, who sometimes paid $350 a month to his wife for household expenses. 

The man progressed to raping the victim and forcing her to perform oral sex after the two moved in. 

Whenever the girl put up any resistance, the man would fly into  a rage.

The girl was afraid of the man’s violent outburst and controlling behaviour. 

DPP Khoo said:

“She (the victim) felt very lousy about herself and just let the accused abuse her daily.”

The man also assaulted his wife and his mistress whenever he was angry or drunk.

The victim wasn’t spared from the attacks.

He hit her when she tried to protect her mother from his drunken rampage, and when he found out that she had male friends at school. 

In addition, he installed tracking software on their phones. 

Having decided that she could not longer tolerate it any further,  the man’s wife decided to file for divorce in 2016, leaving the flat with their son. 

The man subsequently moved into his lover’s flat where he continued abusing the victim. 

On one occasion, the victim’s mother saw her daughter taking the man’s clothes. 

She asked the man if he was going to have sex with her daughter. 

The man told his lover that the two were just taking a shower together, but he later raped the girl inside the toilet. 

The girl eventually sought help from the man’s wife, who then referred her to a social worker. 

The social worker brought the girl to lodge a police report on June 29, 2016. 

The girl’s mother learnt of the report, and the man told her that he was ‘forced’ to rape the girl because he wanted to exact revenge on her and his wife for gossiping about him.

He even sought forgiveness from the woman and took $800 from her.

The man spent the next four days evading arrest before turning himself to the police. 

After his arrest, he told officers that the girl was sexually experienced and had seduced him. 

The girl is now 15 and living with her maternal grandmother.

DPP Khoo said that the man had destroyed the girl’s life and made her insecure about herself.

He also caused a rift between the girl and her mother.

‘She (the girl) misses her mother’, said the DPP.