45-yr-old man deemed unfit for caning gets another 10 months of jail for sexually abusing his four daughters

SINGAPORE: A man who committed unspeakable acts against his own family, including the rape of three of his daughters and sexual abuse of a fourth, has been deemed unfit for caning due to a medical condition – “mild congestive heart failure.”

Consequently, he has been sentenced to an additional ten months in jail by the High Court, on 24 October.

This 10-month sentence is in addition to his existing prison term of 33 years and two months.

Abuse towards daughter started when she was very young

The 45-year-old perpetrator, a former freelance kids’ adventure camp instructor, admitted to these heinous crimes that occurred between 2004 and 2018.

His abusive actions involved the sexual abuse of his oldest daughter from a very young age, while only his youngest daughter was spared.

The High Court, during his initial sentencing in March 2022, characterized his daughters as being treated as “sex objects.”

Channel News Asia (CNA) reported that in 2018, the man told one of his daughter that she needed to have sex with him monthly or else he would stop her from going to school.

The victim complied out of fear of spending the entire day at home with her father.

At least twice in 2018, the accused would conduct “body checks” on three of his daughters, calling them to his master bedroom one by one.

He would then performed sex act on one of the victim under the pretext of “cleaning her private parts,” before taking a picture of her private parts and showing it to the other two victims.

Another similar “body check” took place between 10 September and 16 November 2018 at night involving the same three girls.

In addition to sexual abuse, the man subjected his daughters to starvation when angry and also physically abused his wife and son.

Heinous crime uncovered

The shocking abuse came to light when the youngest daughter reported the case to the police in November 2018.

The prosecution, recognizing the severity of his conduct, his disobedience, his premeditation and his “contempt for the well-being of those who called him father and husband,” requested 12 months’ jail as an alternative to the 24 strokes of the cane.

They argued that this jail time was necessary to “compensate for the deterrent and retributive effects of caning which are lost as a result of the offender’s exemption,” said the prosecutors.

Victim impact statements from the abused daughters revealed the profound trauma they endured, with recurring nightmares and difficulties trusting men due to the fear of a repetition of the abuse.

One of them blamed herself that her siblings “did not have a father” and felt that she was “fighting this emotional battle alone”.

Another said she “kept waking up in the middle of the night frequently and (crying) about her life,” not wanting to ever have a father figure at home to remind her of what her dad did to her.

Despite his attempts to appeal for a shorter jail term, citing “unclear” evidence in the case and a desire to embark on a mini-pilgrimage, his appeal was dismissed in September 2022.