SINGAPORE - A teenager who went to live with her paternal aunt was molested by her uncle as she slept - and left so traumatised that she tried to kill herself.

The 58-year-old driver was jailed for 11 months on Monday after admitting molesting her at his Jurong HDB flat in September 2010.

The victim, who was 18 at the time, had been sleeping on a mattress in his master bedroom when he squeezed her breasts and touched her private parts.

The court heard that the youngster later became suicidal and tried to overdose on medicine. She made a police report in 2013 after confiding in another relative.

Investigations found that when her aunt found out what had happened she confronted her husband, but he denied touching her.

The aunt then told her niece not to tell anyone else to avoid causing "problems at home". The younger woman agreed as she was financially dependent on her aunt and feared being thrown out of the flat.

Calling for a jail term of more than nine months, Assistant Public Prosecutor Lydia Goh pointed out the accused had abused the trust placed in him.

Defence counsel Surian Sidambaram said his client had acted in a moment of foolishness and tried to apologise to his victim through his wife.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had another two molestation charges involving the same girl taken into consideration. He could have been jailed for up to two years, fined and caned.