Man slapped and sexually abused 12-year-old stepdaughter after she came home late

Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
August 3, 2023

A man who slapped his 12-year-old stepdaughter after she came home late on April 26, 2022, went on to sexually abuse her later that day.

The girl has since been removed from her family and is now living in a home.

Her 32-year-old stepfather pleaded guilty to sexually penetrating the child and was sentenced to 10 years’ jail on Thursday.

Two other charges including one count of assault were considered during sentencing.

The man, who cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the girl’s identity, was also ordered to receive 12 strokes of the cane.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Zhou Yang said that the offender lived in a flat with his wife, the victim and her six siblings as well as the victim’s grandparents and uncle.

The DPP added: “The accused admitted that he treated the victim like his own daughter.

“The victim’s mother likewise observed that the accused and the victim shared a relationship akin to that of a father and daughter... The victim would confide to either her or the accused when she faced problems.”

On April 26, 2022, the girl had gone to play sepak takraw with her friends after school at around 4pm.

She was on her way home about two hours later when she met her stepfather at the ground floor of their block of flats.

Unhappy that she had come home late, he slapped her cheek and pulled her hair.

The pair then entered a lift. Instead of pressing the button for the seventh floor where they lived, he pressed the button for the 15th floor, the highest floor of the block.

The DPP said that he had done so, as that floor was secluded.

When they reached their destination, the man confronted his stepdaughter about her Instagram chat with a 15-year-old boy who had asked her for sex.

Court documents did not state how the stepfather found out about the message.

After that, the man asked the girl if she wanted to have sex with others. Feeling disgusted, she said “no”.

He then told her that he wanted to conduct a check and sexually penetrated her.

As the pair made their way back home soon afterwards, he told her not to tell anyone about the incident.

Despite this, she told two of her classmates about it the next day and one of them asked the victim to alert their school counsellor.

The victim was initially reluctant to do so, as she knew that she would then be separated from her family and removed from the flat.

But she soon relented and alerted the counsellor, and the school’s vice-principal was also informed about the incident.

The victim lodged a police report that same day, with help from the vice-principal and Child Protective Service officers.