SINGAPORE - A man who molested and sexually abused his lover's young daughter 10 years ago was sentenced to a total of six-and-a-half years' jail and six strokes of the cane on Tuesday.
The 39-year-old Malaysian, who faced 12 charges, admitted to two counts of outraging the modesty of the girl, and one of unnatural sex at a flat in Tampines in 2005.
The victim, now 19, was about nine or 10 at the time.
A district court heard that he was living with the girl's mother, who is divorced.
While the mother was at work one Sunday in February 2005, the man, then a material and freight handling worker, played a pornographic DVD while he was alone with the victim in the master bedroom.
He took off his boxer shorts and undressed and molested her.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ramesh Ethan Ananda said the victim did not even realise that the man should not be touching her.
On other occasions, he molested her and he made her perform oral sex on him.
She did not tell anyone what had happened.
But in 2013, she accidentally spoke about the sexual encounters with the man, while she was having dinner with him, together with her biological father and her boyfriend. Her father was enraged and told her to lodge a police report.
The man's lawyer, Mr Chung Ping Shen, said in mitigation his client had cooperated with the authorities and had been guilt-ridden.
He tendered various documents to show the support his client had from family members, employers and even the victim and her mother, who is still in a relationship with him.
The man could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined for the unnatural sex offence. For molestation, he could have been jailed for up to two years, or fined, or caned or punished with any two such punishments on each charge.
