Man molested 12-year-old daughter after asking her to go to his room, and also threatened to kill wife

Elena Chong
The Straits Times
June 30, 2016

A security guard sexually assulted his 12-year-old daughter several times some years ago. He also threatened to kill his wife. For that, the man - aged 43 - was sentenced on Thursday (June 30) to a total of four years and three months' jail and five strokes of the cane.

He pleaded guilty to four of six charges of molestation and criminal intimidation.

A court heard last week that the man - who cannot be named so as not to identify his victim - would wait until everyone was asleep or when there was no one at home. He would then send text messages to his daughter to go to his room. He would then abuse her sexually.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Kavita Uthrapathy told the court that the girl was so frightened and stressed that she finally revealed what the man had been doing to her to her grandmother.

The court heard that the man had wrongfully restrained his daughter by hugging her from behind with a strong grip and molested her some time in September 2014.

About two months later, he pushed had her onto his bed and slid his hand underneath her shirt, pulled down the top of her brassiere and squeezed her breasts.

He had also threatened to kill his 34-year-old wife on Sept 27, 2014. Then, on June 29 last year, he pointed a knife at her and chased her along the corridor outside their home.

That same day, the girl had accompanied her grandmother to a clinic and the grandmother had noticed that she had been crying and asked her why. She showed her some messages on the phone from her father, and said that he had been molesting her for some time.

The grandmother called the girl's mother and told her what had happened and the police were called.

District Judge Lim Keng Yeow backdated the man's sentence to July 1 last year.

The man and his wife are undergoing divorce proceedings.

For restraining a person under 14 years old during the molestation, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years and caned.

He could have been jailed for up to five years, fined, caned or received any combined punishment for molesting any person under 14 years old.

The maximum penalty for criminal intimidation is seven years' jail and a fine.