Father jailed for betraying daughter and molesting her repeatedly

SINGAPORE - The teenager should have been safe in her own home, with her biological father.

Instead, he molested her repeatedly, causing her to suffer trauma that had her contemplating suicide.

Sentencing the 55-year-old to three years and five months' jail on Monday (July 20), District Judge Marvin Bay said of the father: "This case, which involved your exploitation of your own 14-year-old biological daughter to satisfy your baser desires, is a deeply egregious betrayal as her father.

"In sentencing, the court must take a firm stand against this manner of sexual exploitation of vulnerable family members, and punishments must be accordingly uncompromising and severe."

The Singaporean, who had pleaded guilty to three molestation charges, cannot be named because of a gag order to protect his daughter's identity.

The court was told the girl, now 19 and studying overseas, had been diagnosed with "symptoms congruent to post-trauma stress disorder".

Her ordeal started in 2015, when she was 14 years old.

The man lived in a Woodlands flat with his then wife and her mother, as well as his daughter and three sons, Deputy Public Prosecutor Mark Yeo told the court.

He shared the master bedroom with his spouse, the victim and his youngest son.

The boy's age was not stated in court documents.

On several occasions, the operations specialist, who worked the night shift, returned home when the children's mother was at work.

Some time in 2015, he returned home at around 8am and was resting on a mattress placed on the floor when his son started crying. The boy was sharing a bed with the victim.

DPP Yeo said the man joined them and rested between his two children.

At one point, the girl, who was then sleeping, turned her body and one of her legs rested on her father's thigh.

This caused the man to be sexually aroused. He then molested his daughter for the first time, and did it again on two other occasions.

On Nov 6, 2017, the girl made a police report against her father and he was arrested the next day. It was not mentioned in court what spurred her to alert the authorities.

Following her ordeal, the court heard that the girl was plagued by nightmares and had even considered ending her life.

The man is now out bail of $80,000 and will have to surrender himself at the State Courts on Aug 20 to begin serving his jail term.

For each count of molestation, an offender can be jailed for up to two years and fined or caned.

The man cannot be caned as he is over 50 years old.

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