71-year-old man gets jail for molesting daughter over 20 years ago

The woman struggled with her mental health and had trust issues growing up following her father's sexual abuse.

A close-up view of the State Courts building. (Photo: CNA/Ili Mansor)

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SINGAPORE: A 71-year-old man was sentenced last month to 16 months' jail for molesting his daughter more than 20 years ago when she was between four and seven years old.

Her mental health was also unstable, so she sought help from the school counsellor and psychologists irregularly from the age of seven to 21, and sought help from a psychologist and psychiatrist consistently after she turned 21.

The offences only came to light after the woman disclosed to her boyfriend about a decade later that she was molested by her father.

The man was charged with two counts of outrage of modesty and was found guilty of both.

According to a judgement made available on Friday (Oct 2), the victim recalled her father touching her private parts in the living room twice sometime between 1999 and 2001. On one occasion, he did so while she was sick and taking a nap.

She did not tell anyone about the sexual abuse and was in denial that her father had committed the acts.

She told the court that the acts had left her with "a lot of trauma", which manifested into struggles in her romantic relationships.

In 2011, she disclosed the sexual abuse to her then-boyfriend, followed by two other ex-boyfriends.

It was with the encouragement of one of her partners that she told her mother about the sexual abuse.

The mother, upon learning what happened, wanted to make a police report immediately. However, the victim was reluctant, citing the lack of eyewitnesses and the time that had passed.

The mother then helped the victim move out of the family home.

Her mother, who was a witness during the trial, confirmed the victim would have meltdowns.

She testified that, in trying to understand the victim's behaviour, she had seen the victim's personal diary and felt "extremely disturbed".

The mother also recalled an incident when the victim was ill. The mother asked the father how the victim was. The man had responded defensively that he was not trying to "do something to your daughter".

Two of the victim's former boyfriends also told the court they observed a strained relationship between the victim and her father, and recalled the woman telling them of her father's sexual abuse.

In the years after the abuse until she was about age 17, the victim testified that her relationship with her father was "amicable, pleasant". However, she felt a build-up of anger and angst from her subconsciously knowing that the man had sexually abused her.

END-STAGE RENAL FAILURE

The man denied committing the acts the victim claimed.

He had also claimed to be applying medication on the girl's private parts during his testimony, before later claiming that he could not remember whether he had applied any medication at all.

District Judge Carol Ling wrote in her judgement that she found the victim to be credible.

While the defence took issue with how the victim could not remember certain details, like how long the man molested the victim for, Judge Ling said that this was understandable.

"To my mind, she was making sense of and recounting her painful childhood experiences in the language and understanding she now possesses as an older person," said Judge Ling.

"Throughout her testimony, she had been extremely elaborate in describing her feelings, emotions, and what had taken place over those years.

"Her account now may be understood as an attempt to put into words what had happened to her some 20 years ago - something she may not have been able to fully express as a young child, or even as she grew older."

The judge added that the defence witnesses - his son, his sister and brother-in-law - were not aware of what happened between father and daughter in private.

The judge added that the defence's case "did not cast a reasonable doubt on the prosecution's case".

"The accused's bare denial stood in stark contrast to the victim's consistent and compelling account," she wrote.

With the man found guilty, the prosecution sought a sentence of 16 to 19 months' jail for each of the two charges, pointing out that the victim was vulnerable at a young age, and there was an "egregious abuse of trust" as the perpetrator is the victim's father.

The defence sought eight months' jail as the man is suffering from several medical conditions such as end-stage renal failure, which requires him to attend dialysis at least three times a week.

Judge Ho said that she did not put too much weight on the man's ill health in the sentencing as the medical reports did not establish that being jailed would carry an imminent risk to the man's life.

She added that the Singapore Prison Service would be able to manage his medical conditions, and that a need for retribution, punishment and deterrence is strong.

The man is currently on bail. He will be appealing against his sentence and conviction.

For molestation of a person under the age of 14, the man could have been jailed for three to ten years and caned. However, as he is above the age of 50, he cannot be caned.

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这名女子从小就饱受精神健康问题的困扰，并且由于父亲的性虐待，她一直有信任方面的问题。

国家法院大楼近景。（图片：CNA/Ili Mansor）

这段音频由人工智能工具生成。

新加坡：一名71岁男子上个月被判处16个月监禁，罪名是20多年前猥亵他当时只有4岁到7岁的女儿。

她的精神健康状况也不稳定，因此从 7 岁到 21 岁，她不定期地向学校辅导员和心理学家寻求帮助，21 岁以后，她持续地向心理学家和精神科医生寻求帮助。

大约十年后，这名女子向男友透露自己曾被父亲性侵，这些罪行才得以曝光。

该男子被控两项猥亵罪，并被判两项罪名成立。

根据周五（10 月 2 日）公布的判决书，受害者回忆说，在 1999 年至 2001 年期间，她的父亲曾两次在客厅里触摸她的私处。其中一次，是在她生病午睡的时候。

她没有告诉任何人她遭受性虐待的事，并且否认她的父亲犯下了这些罪行。

她告诉法庭，这些行为给她留下了“很大的创伤”，并导致她在恋爱关系中遇到困难。

2011年，她向当时的男友透露了自己遭受性虐待的经历，随后又向另外两名前男友透露了此事。

在其中一位伴侣的鼓励下，她才向母亲坦白了自己遭受性虐待的经历。

得知事情经过后，母亲想立即报警。然而，受害者却犹豫不决，理由是没有目击证人，而且时间已经过去很久了。

随后，母亲帮助受害者搬出了家。

她的母亲作为庭审证人证实，受害者会情绪崩溃。

她作证说，为了了解受害者的行为，她看到了受害者的私人日记，并感到“非常不安”。

母亲还回忆起受害者生病时的一件事。母亲问孩子的父亲孩子的情况如何。父亲辩解说他没有想“对你女儿做什么”。

受害者的两名前男友也向法庭表示，他们注意到受害者和她父亲之间的关系很紧张，并回忆起这名女子曾告诉他们她父亲对她进行性虐待的事。

在遭受虐待后的几年里，直到她大约17岁，受害者作证说她与父亲的关系“友好、愉快”。然而，由于潜意识里知道父亲曾性侵过她，她感到愤怒和焦虑不断积聚。

终末期肾衰竭

该男子否认实施了受害者所指控的行为。

他在作证时还声称自己给女孩的私处涂抹了药物，但后来又声称自己记不清是否涂抹过任何药物。

地区法官卡罗尔·林在判决书中写道，她认为受害者的证词可信。

辩方对受害者无法记住某些细节（例如该男子猥亵受害者的时间长短）提出异议，但林法官表示这是可以理解的。

“在我看来，她是在用她现在作为成年人所拥有的语言和理解力来理解和讲述她痛苦的童年经历，”林法官说。

“在她的证词中，她非常详细地描述了她的感受、情绪以及那些年发生的事情。

“她现在的叙述可以被理解为试图用语言表达大约20年前发生在她身上的事情——这件事在她年幼时，甚至在她长大后，她可能都无法完全表达出来。”

法官补充说，辩方证人——他的儿子、妹妹和妹夫——并不知道父女俩私下里发生了什么。

法官补充说，辩方的论点“并未对控方的论点提出合理的怀疑”。

“被告的矢口否认与受害者前后一致且令人信服的陈述形成了鲜明对比，”她写道。

该男子被判有罪后，检方要求对两项指控分别判处 16 至 19 个月的监禁，并指出受害者年幼且易受伤害，而且由于施害者是受害者的父亲，因此存在“严重的信任滥用”。

辩方请求判处该男子八个月监禁，因为该男子患有多种疾病，例如终末期肾衰竭，需要每周至少进行三次透析。

何法官表示，她在量刑时并没有过分重视该男子的健康状况，因为医疗报告并未证实监禁会对该男子的生命构成迫在眉睫的危险。

她补充说，新加坡监狱管理局能够处理他的医疗状况，而且报复、惩罚和威慑的必要性十分强烈。

该男子目前已获保释。他将对判决和定罪提出上诉。

如果猥亵未满14岁的未成年人，该男子可能被判处3至10年监禁并处以鞭刑。然而，由于他已年过50岁，因此不能判处鞭刑。

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