14 hours ago
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SINGAPORE: A father who found that his 16-year-old daughter had sent nudes to a classmate confronted the girl angrily and sexually abused her.
The 54-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his daughter, was sentenced on Monday (Feb 23) to six years' jail.
Of this, nine months is in lieu of caning as he cannot be caned since he is above 50.
The man pleaded guilty to three counts of outraging his daughter's modesty while causing her to be in fear of instant hurt.
Another three charges were taken into consideration.
THE CASE
The court heard that the victim was 16 in May 2024 when her father conducted a check on her phone.
He found that she had sent her male classmate nude photos and intimate videos of herself, while the classmate had also sent explicit photos to her.
On May 12, 2024, the man took the victim and her younger sister to their grandparents' home.
While the grandparents were watching TV in the living room, the man asked the victim to go into the bedroom.
He joined her and locked the door. He then sat on the bedframe and angrily told his daughter to strip.
The girl apologised, knowing that her father had seen the contents of her phone, but refused to take off her clothes.
Her father then raised his voice and repeatedly commanded her to strip.
Fearing that she could be hurt, the girl complied since she knew her father to be hot-tempered.
She stood naked before her father, who molested her.
The girl tried to back away, but her father told her to keep quiet, saying she had "asked for it".
The man then got his daughter to lie down and climbed on top of her. He molested her, telling her not to cry.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and the man told his daughter to get dressed. They left the bedroom together and went home.
When they got home sometime before midnight on May 13, 2024, the man told his daughter to shower but keep the door open.
The girl complied.
When she was done, her father asked the girl to "let him look". Fearing that she could be hurt, the girl reluctantly unwrapped her towel briefly before wrapping herself again in it.
On her father's instructions, she retrieved clothes from her room and returned to the toilet where she got dressed in front of her father.
The man then asked her why there was a photo of male genitals on her phone.
The girl said her classmate had sent it to her.
Angrily, the man asked if she wanted to see his, since she wanted to look at other people's private parts.
He commanded the girl to sit on his lap before molesting his daughter and scolding her.
After this assault, the girl ran away from home and sought refuge with her aunt.
Her father found her and took her home. That same night, the girl told her mother about what happened, and her mother confronted her father.
The man admitted that he had told the victim to lie naked and touched her to "teach her a lesson".
The girl's mother took her to file a police report. Her father was arrested that same day and remanded since.
SENTENCING
Prosecutors sought five to six years' jail, with nine months in lieu of caning.
They said there was a high degree of sexual exploitation in this case, with skin-to-skin contact and the causing of pain.
The man had also locked the door in the first incident, with restraint involved when he climbed on top of his daughter.
The girl was only 16 at the time, they added.
For using criminal force to outrage a person's modesty, while putting them in fear of instant hurt, an offender can be jailed for between two and 10 years. They can also be caned.
If the victim is someone the offender is in a close relationship with, the maximum penalties are doubled.
