A food deliveryman who told police he "lost count" of the number of times he molested his 10-year-old stepdaughter was yesterday jailed for three years and given three strokes of the cane.

The 42-year-old pleaded guilty to three charges of molesting a minor. Two similar counts were considered in sentencing. He cannot be named to protect the victim's identity.

A district court heard that the girl called the police on July 9 last year after the man touched her private parts. The stepfather admitted molesting her and was arrested.

He said he got sexually aroused by the girl after he played wrestling with her one day, and would touch her when she was asleep.The man told police he molested the girl between November 2014 and May 2015.

He married the girl's mother in June 2014, but had moved into their home prior to that. The man would sleep with her mother in the sole bedroom of the home, while the girl would sleep with her three sisters in the living room.

The court heard that the stepfather would molest the victim when she was asleep. On one occasion, she woke up screaming when he touched her in his lorry while parked near Sembawang Park.

For outraging the modesty of someone younger than 14, he could have been jailed for five years, fined and caned for each charge.

Amir Hussain