Warning: This story contains references to suicide.
SINGAPORE: A 16-year-old girl who was sexually abused by her father and watched her mother kill herself was subjected to further sexual grooming by a man who took her into his care.
The 39-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, sexually groomed the teenager on the guise of “healing” touch before sexually assaulting her on a regular basis.
He was sentenced to 10 years’ jail and nine strokes of the cane on Tuesday (Nov 28).
The man pleaded guilty to four counts of exploitative sexual penetration of a minor who is 16 or 17, with another nine charges taken into consideration.
This is the first prosecution for an offence of exploitative sexual penetration of a minor who is 16 or 17 under Section 376AA of the Penal Code.
The court heard that the girl, who is now 19, was 13 years old when her mother stabbed herself to death in front of her in 2017.
The Institute of Mental Health (IMH) diagnosed the girl as suffering from adjustment disorder with depressed mood as a result.
The girl’s father did not allow her or her siblings to mourn their mother or cry at her funeral as he felt she was not a good mother.
The girl’s father made her attend religious teachings as he wanted her to become a medium. However, the girl converted to another religion after her mother’s death, which made her father extremely unhappy.
The girl was sexually abused by her father in January 2018, several months after her mother died.
She overdosed on medication and was admitted to IMH, where she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
She was removed from her father’s care in March 2018 and placed in the care of a family friend, where she stopped engaging in self-harm.
However, this resumed in June 2018 after a close friend died by suicide.
In September 2018, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) placed the girl in a treatment centre that is designed to help teen girls who suffered trauma or abuse reintegrate back into society.
ACCUSED MEETS GIRL THROUGH CAMP
The accused, a married man with two sons, was a manager at a company which conducts camps for children.
He first met the victim in September 2018 when he ran a programme at the centre she was with.
He later suggested adopting the girl, with his wife’s agreement. His family was assessed to be suitable caregivers and began meeting the victim regularly.
The girl was very happy and excited when she heard of the family’s intention to adopt her, as she had never had a “real family” before.
She told her psychologist about her hopefulness for her future and said she was very happy that she had found a family that loved her.
The accused and his wife were briefed on the girl’s mental conditions and past trauma by her psychologist.
The girl began staying over at the offender’s home in December 2019 as part of “home leave”.
In September 2020, the man began preying on the girl sexually. He began by asking her to remove her clothes to participate in an “activity” using a mirror, then he molested her.
He would also molest the girl as she slept between him and his wife, and told the girl that “touch need not be sexual it could be for healing”.
The man began sexually assaulting the girl on an almost daily basis. The girl would experience panic attacks during the assaults.
While the adoption process was ongoing, he continued to sexually assault the girl, showing her pornography and making her perform sex acts.
In November 2020, when the girl was in the car with the offender, she asked him if she was still his daughter.
When he said she was, the girl asked him why he did not treat her like one.
She felt she was being used by the man, and that he was not being fair to his wife, the court heard.
IMPACT ON THE GIRL
She felt that she did not want to be romantically involved with anyone, get married or be sexually involved with anyone, as a result of the offender’s actions.
She also said she was “always filled with shame and guilt” after the sexual incidents and hated herself.
She began self-harming again, having suicidal thoughts and overdosing.
On Nov 27, 2020, the girl sent the offender a message saying that she felt “empty and used”.
“You call me your daughter but I can’t forget the ways you didn’t treat me like one. You’re one of the biggest reasons why I want to die because I can’t live with myself like this and I can’t live with you,” she wrote.
At the time the man was assaulting her, he was still having intercourse with his wife, who got pregnant.
When the girl found out about the ectopic pregnancy, she had a panic attack worrying for the woman. An ectopic pregnancy is when a fertilised egg implants itself outside the womb.
The offender’s wife subsequently had a miscarriage, and the victim blamed herself for it, feeling guilty over the sexual acts she had engaged in with the offender.
Eventually, she told her school teacher what happened, and the teacher lodged a police report.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Nicholas Khoo, Janice See and Ng Shao Yan asked for 12 to 15 years’ jail and caning for the offender, calling his conduct “depraved and exploitative”.
“After a traumatic childhood … the victim, a 16-year-old girl, was supposed to have finally found a sanctuary in the accused’s home,” said the prosecutors.
“However, it was not to be. The accused, a sexual predator, preyed on her vulnerability by sexually grooming her.”
The prosecution said the man defiled her youth and left her with “indelible mental scars”.
The penalty for exploitative sexual penetration of a person who is 16 but below 18 is a jail term of up to 15 years, with a fine or caning.