Man raped stepdaughter while his wife was in jail, offered to pay her $500 a month to not report him

Posted on 28 June 2023 | 6,327 views | 11 comments

Samuel Devaraj
The Straits Times
June 27, 2023

Before going to prison, a woman asked her husband to take care of his stepdaughter, but he raped the girl instead.

His multiple sexual offences against the victim when she was between 10 and 13 years old led her to having suicidal thoughts.

On Tuesday, the man, now 50, was sentenced to 18 years’ jail after he pleaded guilty to one count of rape and one count of sexual assault by penetration. Three other charges were taken into consideration.

Deputy Public Prosecutors Marcus Foo, Yohanes Ng and Goh Qi Shuen said the man married the victim’s mother in Batam some time in 2015 and moved to a flat in Singapore in September 2017.

On Sept 21, 2017, after she was sentenced to 14 weeks’ jail, the wife entrusted the care of her child to the man. Court documents did not mention her offence.

A few days later, the girl was asleep on the sofa in the living room, while her stepfather slept on the floor. She woke up when he stretched his hand out and touched her breast over her clothes.

He then pulled her down to the floor and removed her shorts and underwear before sexually assaulting her. He noticed her attempts to resist his assault both physically and verbally, said the prosecution.

Afterwards, he told the girl not to tell anyone or else he would assault her further.

On another occasion that month, the girl was asleep on the sofa when the man pulled her down to the floor and removed her shorts and underwear.

He failed in his first attempt to rape his stepdaughter while she tried in vain to push him away. He eventually managed to rape her as she cried out in pain. He raped her a few more times that month.

Between 2017 and 2020, after his wife was released from jail, he committed more sexual offences against the girl when her mother was asleep. The victim kept mum as she was afraid of his threats.

The offences finally came to light when the woman, who had divorced him by then, called the police on Oct 5, 2021, over a separate incident involving her then boyfriend and her daughter.

When the girl revealed that her former stepfather had non-consensual sex with her when she was younger, her mother confronted her former husband, who initially denied sexually assaulting the girl.

He then tried offering to give his victim $500 a month, apologised for his actions and asked them not to report the matter to the police.

On Oct 6, 2021, a police report was made, and the man was arrested. The victim was then seen by a child psychiatrist.

The prosecutors said: “It was noted that the victim had stated she had suicidal thoughts for many years since 2017 as she did not like what was done to her, which she had to endure. The victim also reported that she would have recurrent flashbacks of the incidents.

“She would also feel anxious and tend to be more careful about men in public and would freeze if there were men nearby due to her fear of being molested. While she feels better now, she still has feelings of anger with herself for not disclosing the matter earlier.”

The prosecution asked the court to sentence the man to 17 to 20 years’ jail, with another 10 to 12 months in lieu of the mandatory minimum of 24 strokes of the cane. Those who are 50 and above cannot be caned.

They also highlighted the significant abuse of trust and position by the offender and the long period of abuse and sexual grooming.