Man admits to sexually abusing daughter since she was 3, started raping her when she was 9

SINGAPORE - Time and again over 7½ years, a man sexually assaulted and raped his daughter when his wife was not at home, the High Court heard on Friday (March 26).

He began sexually exploiting the girl when she was three, and moved on to raping when she was nine.

The man, a permanent resident from a European country, regularly showed pornographic videos to his daughter, including one of a child having sex with her father.

He even preyed on his daughter's best friend, then nine years old, when she came over to play.

The abuse came to light after the friend was asked to confess her sins before taking her first communion, an important ceremony for Catholics.

On Friday (March 26), the 44-year-old man, who worked here as a product manager, pleaded guilty to three counts of rape committed against his daughter.

The man, whose wife has since divorced him, cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the victims' identities.

He will be sentenced by High Court Judge Mavis Chionh on April 19.

Another 19 charges will be considered in sentencing, including another four charges of rape and three charges for sexual assault by penetration.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Yvonne Poon sought 30 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane, saying that the man fell utterly short of his roles as the girl's protector and guardian.

"She tolerated years of abuse despite knowing what the accused did to her was wrong, and disliking it; she obeyed him each time he wheedled her into compliance... and she continues to write him letters now, whilst he is in remand, to tell him that she loves and misses him," she said.

Defence counsel Amarjit Singh Sidhu sought 24 to 26 years' jail. "He concedes that what he did was wrong.... It was deplorable," said the lawyer.

The court heard that the man and his wife, also a permanent resident, moved to Singapore with the victim in 2010.

The abuse started at the end of 2011 in their rented condominium.

The DPP told the court that the girl became afraid of showering alone after she saw people drowning on TV, which led to the man showering with her.

He developed a sexual desire for the girl and sexually exploited her.

After the family moved to another condominium, the abuse became more frequent.

While the girl's mother was at work or out of the country, he showed child pornography to the girl and carried out various sexual acts on her.

The girl told him "no" when he wanted to have sex with her, but he told her to try for a few minutes.

She did not tell anyone about the assaults as she did not want her parents to divorce.

When the girl's best friend, a foreigner who lived in the same condominium, came over, he kissed the friend on the lips and told her to keep it a secret.

Once, he molested both girls at the same time, touching each victim with one hand.

Eventually, the friend stopped coming over.

The friend was in her home country in mid-2019 when she "confessed" that the man had behaved inappropriately with her in 2017. Her parents took her to make a police report when she returned to Singapore.

On July 1, 2019, the police went to the man's home and after speaking to his daughter, who was alone at home, found out that he had sexually assaulted her. The man was arrested later that evening.

By his own estimates, the man has had sex with his daughter between 10 and 20 times. He also said he had forced her to perform oral sex on him more often than he raped her.

He was diagnosed with paedophilic disorder by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) after his arrest.

The IMH report said the disorder had "no substantive contributory link" to his criminal responsibility as his cognitive functioning and his capability to break the law to act on his desires were not significantly impaired.

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