A 69-year-old man was sentenced to 20 years in jail on 3 Nov 2025 for raping and sexually assaulting his step-granddaughter when she was nine to 10 years old.
The man pleaded guilty at the High Court to one count of raping a minor and another of sexual assault by penetration of a minor.​
Another 12 charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.​
The Offences
The sexual assaults occurred from 2016 to 2017, with the man attacking the victim on at least nine occasions. The victim had lived with her grandmother since birth and had never met her mother. Her father had been incarcerated since 2010 and was not involved in her upbringing.​
The offender had married the victim’s grandmother in 1996, divorced her in 2000, and remarried her in 2008. When he moved back into the unit, the trio slept in one room, with the girl sleeping on the floor and the adults sharing the bed.​
Between March 2016 and October 2016, the man invited friends over for drinks. When they left and his wife had gone out, he molested the girl and forced a sex act on her, causing her to feel disgusted.​
Between January 2017 and June 2017, the man again invited friends over for alcohol. After they left, he raped the victim. The girl started crying and he made a lewd comment before telling her to clean herself up.​
The man and the victim’s grandmother divorced in December 2019, and he moved out.​
How the Abuse Was Discovered
The offences remained undetected until July 2020, when the victim was referred to her school counsellor for cutting herself. On 27 Jul 2020, she revealed to the counsellor that she had been sexually abused by the offender.​
The school reported the matter to the Child Protective Services, which informed the victim’s grandmother about the allegation. On 31 Aug 2020, staff from the victim’s school and an officer from the Child Protective Service went to the girl’s home to tell her grandmother about the allegations.​
The victim lodged a police report that night. The offender was arrested on 2 Sep 2020 and has been remanded since.​
Impact on the Victim
The victim was seen at the Child Guidance Clinic at the Institute of Mental Health, where she reported that she kept thinking about the sexual acts and had passive suicidal wishes.
She said she had been engaging in self-harm since she was in Primary 5, cutting herself when she felt stressed about what the offender did to her and worried about her grandmother’s well-being.​
A clinical psychologist who assessed her found that she presented with trauma symptoms that met the clinical criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder. This was in relation to the cumulative impact of all her trauma experiences, but particularly the sexual abuse.​
Her trauma symptoms included persistent intrusive memories and images reminding her of the traumatic experiences, avoidance of thoughts and feelings related to the trauma memories, strong emotional and physiological distress when reminded of or having to share about the trauma incidents, and hypervigilance, inappropriate self-blame, problems with concentration and sleep difficulties.​
The victim also had some symptoms of depression, including low mood, loneliness, reduced appetite and negative perceptions of self-worth, but these did not meet the clinical criteria for mood disorders.
The girl also reported a history of self-harm and suicidal thoughts and behaviour, which were triggered by the unintended consequences from the sexual abuse disclosure in that she was removed from her grandmother’s care, and her thoughts of not being “good enough” for her family.​
The Sentencing
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Jing Min sought 18 to 20 years in jail for the offender, with no extra jail in lieu of caning.
She said the sentence was adequate to reflect the seriousness of the offences.​
In mitigation, the remanded man said he regretted his actions and asked for forgiveness, saying this was his first time. He said he had his own family in Malaysia and that he had two daughters from his first marriage. He asked for leniency, saying he would like to “be old” with his family.​
Justice Aidan Xu said the acts he committed were “wicked” and that he had used the victim’s body to satisfy his lust. While the offender was not of blood relation to the girl, he was a family member by marriage and was supposed to care for the girl and nurture her, said the judge.​
While the offender asked for leniency, the judge said little leniency could be shown because of the gravity of the offences and the great harm caused to the victim. He noted that the offender might pass on in jail but said this was the consequence of his offences.​
For raping a minor, an offender can be given between eight and 20 years in jail and at least 12 strokes of the cane. This offender could not be caned as he was above 50.​
The man cannot be named owing to a gag order to protect the identity of the victim, who is now 18 years old.
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