A 55-year-old father in Singapore was sentenced to 33 years in prison on Tuesday for raping and sexually abusing all three of his daughters over a period of 14 years, targeting them when they each turned 11 or 12 years old.
The paedophile cannot be named owing to gag orders protecting the identities of his daughters, pleaded guilty to four charges of rape, aggravated rape and attempting to procure an indecent act with his youngest daughter.
Damaging effects of pornography
According to the local media reports, the accused, who worked as a cleaner in a nearby primary school, married his wife in 1993 and the couple has three daughters – now 13, 22 and 26 – and a 17-year-old son.
The man began sexually assaulting his eldest daughter when she was 11, in 2005, after watching pornography and 'developing urges', prosecutors informed the media.
The abuse persisted until the elder one turned 16 or 17 years sometime in 2011 after which he started eyeing on his second daughter, who by then was of 12 years.
Following a period of nine years, from 2011 to 2019, the man last raped his second daughter in the kitchen on the night of October 19, 2019, while his wife was sleeping in the living room.
Both the eldest and second daughters did not dare to tell anyone about these sexual assaults as they were scared of their father, who had warned them against doing so, unlike the third daughter who had the courage to negate her father's intention on the night of October 22, 2019, when the later gestured her to go closer to him.
The girl knew he wanted to have sex with her, especially having seen him sexually assault her second sister as well as from her own experience of being molested by him several times in previous years. As she did not want to be raped, she shook her head and started crying.
A friend in need
The minute details of the heinous crime came to light, once and for all, only when his youngest daughter confided in her friend, who advised her to tell their school teacher, who then took her to lodge a complaint with the police report.
Other than the four rape-related charges, the accused further pleaded guilty for eight other charges which were taken into account during sentencing.
Therefore, prosecutors sought a total sentence of at least 35 years and four months' jail for the accused, which also included a one-year term in lieu of caning. The man was above 50 years and so he cannot be caned as per the local laws.
Meanwhile, as a result of abuse for long years, the two oldest daughters have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, while the second daughter has also reported of other major depressive disorders and in dire need of medical treatment in future years.
"The accused had caused significant physical and psychological harm to all three of his daughters and severely violated their trust in their own father," High Court judge See Kee Oon said during the sentencing.
In addition, the man was himself diagnosed with paedophilic disorder and was found to have a high risk of reoffending.
