Jail for man who molested 3 stepdaughters in separate incidents

Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
March 22, 2021

Three sisters thought they had found a father figure when their mother got married in late 2013.

But about a year later, he started molesting the sisters, who were then between 11 and 15 years old.

Two of the girls confided in each other in 2017 and their mother later learnt about their ordeal. But they did not make a police report.

The man's offences were eventually exposed in 2019 after the police were alerted to a heated argument between the couple.

Following a trial, District Judge Eddy Tham found the 53-year-old man guilty of three counts of molestation and sentenced him on Monday (March 22) to two years and eight months' jail.

As the man is above 50 years old, he cannot be caned and was ordered to spend an additional 18 weeks behind bars in lieu of caning.

He cannot be named owing to a gag order to protect the victims' identities.

During the trial, the youngest victim testified that the man was initially "nice" to her and added: "He would always... (bring) us food... like a father."

But this impression changed when he molested her, the court heard.

The girl had testified that she was resting on a bed in her room some time between 2014 and 2015 when her stepfather molested her.

She told Judge Tham that she kept her distance from the man thereafter and initially did not tell others about her ordeal. This was because she feared that the couple would split up, leaving her mother "unhappy".

Her two older sisters also testified that the man had molested them.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sruthi Boppana said the mother found out about the offences in 2017 when she "chanced upon a conversation" between the two younger girls about what the man had done to them.

The woman broached the issue with her three daughters a few weeks later and the girls told her what happened.

The court heard that the girls then decided to give their stepfather a chance and the woman said that she felt "stuck".

The DPP said they decided "to keep the matter within the family in a bid to keep the family unit intact".

After this disclosure, the man did not molest the girls again. But the DPP said: "The incidents of molest remained a bugbear that would resurface during (the mother's) quarrels with the accused.''

She added: "Throughout 2018, (the woman) recalled that her interactions with the accused were limited... They quarrelled often, especially about his drinking habit, and (she) would then bring up the incidents of molest again."

On Feb 11, 2019, the couple were quarrelling at home when somebody - possibly a neighbour- alerted the police and officers turned up at their doorstep. Only then did the mother inform the authorities about her daughters' ordeal.

The man, who is represented by lawyer Luo Ling Ling, denied molesting the girls.

He had claimed during the trial that the girls' mother "wanted to use the police case as leverage in their ongoing divorce proceedings".

The man, who intends to appeal against his conviction and sentence, was offered bail of $20,000 on Monday.

For molesting a child below 14, an offender can be jailed for up to five years and fined or caned.