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

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.DID NOT TELL OTHERS 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 FAILUREThe 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.