SINGAPORE - A sales representative who molested his girlfriend's teenage daughter was sentenced to 12 months' jail on Wednesday (Dec 23).

The 53-year-old man admitted to using criminal force to outrage the 14-year-old's modesty by putting his hand into her shorts and panties and touching her buttock. He also touched her breast from the outside of her T-shirt on the morning of July 25.

A second similar charge was taken into consideration during his sentencing.

The man and the girl are not named to protect her identity.

The man has been the boyfriend of the girl's 43-year-old mother for 10 years. The girl, her sister, their mother and the man have been been living together in a flat for the past eight years.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Allison Phua said on July 24, some relatives of the girl stayed over in the flat.

To make room for them, the girl and her sister slept in the same bedroom as the man. They slept on a mattress on the floor while their mother and the man slept on the bed.

The next morning, the man woke up and saw the girl sleeping. He felt sexually aroused and decided to touch her.

After he touched her buttock from the outside of her shorts, he became emboldened as she did not rouse from her sleep. He then inserted his hand into her shorts and her panties and touched her buttocks.

When the girl turned around, he quickly removed his hand from her shorts.

DPP Phua said the man went on to touch the victim's breast, thinking that she was still asleep.

The girl lodged a police report two days later.

The man's lawyer said that the girl and her mother had forgiven the man and that the girl's mother wants to marry him after he comes out of prison.

The man will start his sentence on Wednesday (Dec 30). He could have been jailed for up to two years, or fined, or jailed and fined. He cannot be caned as he is above 50 years old.