A real estate agent began sexually exploiting his 11-year-old step-daughter about six months after he married her mother.

The man, now 37, started by groping her under her clothes at night while the family was living in Johor, Malaysia, in June 2008. Over the next three years, he moved on to other forms of sexual abuse. He dictated sleeping arrangements so that the girl always slept close to him and a few times, he barged into the toilet while she was bathing.

In October 2011, when the girl was 14, he raped her.

On Monday, the man pleaded guilty to seven charges - for rape, sexual assault of a minor, outrage of modesty and causing hurt. He also admitted causing hurt to the girl's younger sister by punching, kicking and slapping her. The younger girl was not sexually attacked.