SINGAPORE - Alone at home with his girlfriend's 12-year-old daughter, a technician went to the girl's room and asked if she wanted to go to bed with him.

The girl declined and told the 45-year-old man she called "Daddy" to go to Geylang instead.

But that did not stop the man from forcing himself on the girl and warning her not to tell her mother that they had sex.

The 2009 rape came to light only two years later when the girl was questioned by the head of the children's home where she stayed on weekdays.

On Wednesday, the man, now 50, was jailed for 15 years after he pleaded guilty in the High Court to one charge of aggravated statutory rape. A second similar charge was taken into consideration.

Although the offence carries a mandatory minimum of 12 strokes of the cane, the man was spared the rotan due to his age, as the law states that men over 50 cannot be caned.

The court has ordered that the parties not be named, to protect the identity of the victim, who is now 18.

The court heard that the man, who was married with two children, got to know the girl's mother through his wife in 2000. The girl's mother was looking for a place to stay and he found them a flat in Circuit Road.

He also looked after the victim, who was then in nursery, while her mother was at work. In June 2000, he started a relationship with the victim's mother and moved into their flat.

In 2006, the girl started staying at a children's home on weekdays and returned home on weekends. She would usually be alone at home with "Daddy" as her mother had to work on weekends.

One such weekend in 2009, the man went into her bedroom, lay down on the bed beside her and started touching her hands, saying in Mandarin: "Ah Mei, Daddy is very tired. Do you want to go to bed with me?"

After she told him to go to Geylang, he told her not to "talk rubbish" and went on to rape the girl, who complied with his instructions out of fear that he would hit her if she disobeyed.