3 years’ jail for delivery driver who molested 10-year-old step-daughter

3 years’ jail for delivery driver who molested 10-year-old step-daughter

He was sexually aroused by his step-daughter after she fell on top of him while the two were “wrestling” and admitted to the police he had molested the girl so many times that he had “lost count”.

By Vanessa Paige Chelvan
Posted 11 Mar 2016 18:01 Updated 11 Mar 2016 18:10

SINGAPORE: Shortly after marrying the girl’s mother in June 2014, a 42-year-old delivery driver began to molest his new step-daughter, often preying on her while she slept. The abuse continued for seven months, until the 10-year-old girl went to the police.

The step-father, who cannot be named to protect the girl’s identity, was sentenced to three years’ jail and three strokes of the cane on Friday (Mar 11), after pleading guilty to three counts of sexual assault of a child.

The man told police he started to become sexually aroused by his step-daughter after she fell on top of him while the two were “wrestling”. The abuse began soon after, and the man admitted to police he had molested the girl so many times that he had “lost count”.

He often assaulted her in her sleep, and though she would wake to find her step-father molesting her, the girl said she was too frightened to shout.

On one occasion, the man had taken his step-daughter along on a delivery job. When she fell asleep, he parked the lorry near Sembawang Park and lay next to the girl in the backseat. He removed the girl’s shorts and his trousers and sexually assaulted her.

The girl woke up when she felt someone touching her, and screamed in panic as it was dark in the back of the lorry. When the girl realised it was her step-father, she pulled up her shorts and asked to be taken home.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Delicia Tan said the man had “humiliated and degraded” his step-daughter in a “gross and direct betrayal of (the) trust” her mother had placed in him. The man’s offences became increasingly brazen over time, and he often molested her while she slept next to her three sisters, DPP Tan said.

The man, who was unrepresented, told the court he was remorseful and ashamed of his actions, indicating he would attend psychological counselling so “this incident will not happen again”.

“I beg for leniency”, he said, adding that “once this thing is done, I can be back with my family”.

For sexually assaulting a child under 14 years old, he could have been jailed up to five years per charge, and fined and/or caned.

- CNA/xk

- wong chee tat :)