Jail for man who sexually abused adopted child since she was 6
After returning home from her kindergarten graduation performance, a six-year-old girl rested on a bed next to the man she thought was her biological father.
The man made the girl perform an indecent act on him and molested her. The incident took place in 2009.
Over several years after that, the man sexually abused the girl, who is his adopted daughter.
The offences came to light on Oct 2 last year after she spoke to her school counsellor and principal, and a police report was made.
In court yesterday, the man, now 65, was sentenced to 32 months' jail, with an additional 10 weeks in lieu of caning.
He pleaded guilty to one count of molesting a minor and another charge of molestation.
The man, who was working alongside his wife as a hawker before his remand, and his victim cannot be named due to a gag order.
District Judge Janet Wang noted that the "acts of depravity" had impacted the victim significantly and that there was abuse of trust and an "insidious element of sexual grooming".
The court heard that the victim had been adopted as an infant but she had been unaware of this even up till the day the police report was made.
The victim realised the man's acts constituted sexual assault only in 2014, when she was in Primary 5 and got sex education lessons in school.
Despite that, she did not disclose them to anyone but instead started finding excuses to avoid returning home.
MONEY
In 2018, when she was 15, she got into an argument with her mother and broke her mobile phone. The next day, the offender approached her in the kitchen to hand her money to repair the phone.
He then hugged her from behind and placed his hands on her waist.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tay Jingxi said: "The accused then whispered to the victim... 'Now that I have passed you money, I can touch you'. The victim said no." Despite her objection, he molested her.
DPP Tay said the victim drank alcohol to suppress her negative feelings arising from the sexual assault over the years.
On Oct 1 last year, her adopted mother chased her out of the flat. She called a friend, who advised her to speak to a trusted adult. The victim then called her school counsellor about the assault.
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