Soon after he was released from prison, a convicted rapist married a divorced woman who knew of his crimes but believed he had changed. She allowed him to be alone with her daughter from her previous marriage.
But the sexual predator was undeterred despite having previously been sentenced to 24 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane in 2001 for raping his niece.
He began molesting his 12-year-old stepdaughter.
Over almost a year, the sexual abuse escalated to more intrusive acts. He even molested the girl's best friend on two occasions.
Yesterday, the 58-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated sexual assault by penetration and two counts of outraging the modesty of a minor.
Another 12 similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing. He cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the identities of the two victims.
Prosecutors sought the maximum term of 20 years' preventive detention - a regime for recalcitrant offenders that does not offer the usual one-third remission for good behaviour - to protect the public.
"It is imperative that the accused be removed from society for a substantial period of time," said Deputy Public Prosecutor Goh Yi Ling. "His recalcitrance, high risk of re-offending, and sheer inability to control his sexual urges underscore the immediate need to take him out of circulation completely."
The man cannot be caned due to his age.
Justice Aedit Abdullah asked for a report to determine the man's suitability for preventive detention and adjourned the case to a later date.
The court heard that the first victim's mother had married the man in January 2017, after he was released from prison in 2016.
-
Other recalcitrant sex offenders
-
• In 2002, a 49-year-old man, with what a judge said was a "very disturbing" history of kidnapping and molesting children, was given two sentences of preventive detention totalling 30 years.
Nicholas Kenneth had been fined, jailed and caned for several cases of outrage of modesty and kidnapping since 1980.
In 2002, he was sentenced to 20 years' preventive detention for separate cases of kidnapping two girls, aged nine and five, and molesting them. He then abandoned the girls, who were helped by passers-by.
Before a different judge on the same day, he was given 10 years' preventive detention for kidnapping a seven-year-old girl.
Medical reports said he had "an abnormal sexual drive directed at pre-adolescent girls" and was unable to control his behaviour.
• In 2018, a 53-year-old paedophile was sentenced to 20 years' preventive detention for sexually assaulting two sisters, aged 16 and 12.
Hussain Samat posed as a Housing Board officer to trick the older girl to his flat, where he sexually attacked her at knifepoint and recorded videos of the acts. He then forced her to call her sister to his flat and similarly assaulted the younger girl.
The career criminal had been fined, jailed and caned for various offences, including armed robbery, since 1985.
In 2001, he was given 14 years' preventive detention and six strokes of the cane for sexual crimes against minors, but he committed the offences against the two sisters shortly after his release.
The first victim was initially living with her biological father but moved in with her mother and stepfather in 2017.
In February 2018, the man started touching the girl inappropriately, with the acts becoming more aggravated over time.
He usually seized the opportunity to commit the acts when the girl's mother was not looking or was occupied with something else.
In March 2018, while they were on a sofa watching TV, he placed his hand around the girl's shoulders and squeezed her breast.
In December that year, she was sleeping when he slipped his hand under her underwear and sexually violated her.
In early 2018, when his stepdaughter's best friend came to visit, the man molested her after taking her out on his e-scooter.
In January last year, the first victim's mother believed that the girl was dating someone and told her that she would take her to the hospital to check her virginity.
The girl then told their neighbour how her stepfather had touched her. The neighbour spoke to the girl's mother, who confronted the man.
Following this, the girl went to live with her biological father. He took her to lodge a police report after finding chat messages in which she told a friend that her stepfather had touched her private parts.
After his arrest, the man claimed during a psychiatric assessment that he touched his stepdaughter only after she had seduced him by taking off her shirt and exposing her breasts.
An Institute of Mental Health report said that he had a high risk of re-offending and that he had not benefited from the experience of his first incarceration.
