Man, 20, sentenced to 1 year RTC for molesting his underage cousin over 4 years

SINGAPORE - A 20-year-old man was sentenced on Thursday (Oct 15) to 12 months at a Reformative Training Centre (RTC) for sexually assaulting his female cousin on multiple occasions between 2016 and 2019.

He first molested his cousin in an apartment unit when she was 10 and he was 15.

He continued to molest her on multiple occasions throughout the years, the last time being in May last year, when the man was 19 and the victim was 13.

The man cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the victim's identity.

The court heard that on multiple occasions, he would lock himself in a bedroom with the victim and instruct her to lie down on a mattress.

He would then remove her shorts and underwear and proceed to rub his exposed genitals against her lower body and buttocks.

The first time he assaulted his cousin, he was paired with her during a game of "hide-and-seek", during which he isolated her from the others they were playing with. He then locked her in a bedroom and proceeded to molest her.

Most pertinently, in May last year, the accused dragged the victim - then 13 - out of the shower she was in. Despite the victim's efforts to rebuff his advances, he made her lie down on a bed and he proceeded to rub his exposed genitals against hers for around two minutes.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Kor Zhen Hong noted that the accused and the victim's families shared a "close relationship", and that the victim did not confide in anyone as she was "afraid of spoiling the relationship between their families".

DPP Kor added that the victim did not put up a struggle, as she respected him and "did not wish to upset him".

This pattern of sexual abuse finally came to light in late May last year, when the victim's elder brother noticed that the accused and the victim were frequently spending time together in a locked bedroom.

He conveyed his concerns to their mother, who questioned the victim. The girl then revealed that she had been a victim of her cousin's sexual advances since 2016.

A police report was finally lodged on May 30, 2019 at the Hougang Neighbourhood Police Centre, where the victim told officers that she had been "sexually assaulted".

DPP Kor asked that the man be sentenced to time in an RTC, rather than given probation, as the offences had been committed over an extended period of four years.

"The age gap between the accused and the victim was quite significant, and we recommend that a structured environment such as the RTC would reduce his risk of re-offending," DPP Kor said.

The man was sentenced based on three proceeded charges of outrage of modesty. The first one took place between May and June 2016, the second between November and December 2018, and the third one occurred in May 2019.

Four other charges of outrage of modesty were taken into consideration in the man's sentencing.

District Judge May Mesenas told the man prior to his sentencing that she hoped the victim would be able to "overcome and deal with what you have done to her".

"I hope that after your time in RTC you will make sure that this does not happen to anyone else," Judge Mesenas said.

Judge Mesenas also called on the Ministry of Social and Family Development to locate and contact the victim to follow-up with the necessary counselling. The court heard that the victim now lives with her mother - who has since remarried - and that there has been no contact between her and her cousin since the police report was made.

"I would like to ask for the MSF to reach out to the victim so that the after-effects and consequences of what has occurred do not stay with her and manifest in other consequences for her down the road," Judge Mesenas said.

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