Man admits to molesting girlfriend's daughters aged 8 and 13 in flat
He was living with his girlfriend when he molested her eight-year-old and 13-year-old daughters. After the man was arrested, he told investigators that he committed the offences as he could not control his sexual urges.
On Monday (7 May), the man, a 29-year-old Malaysian, pleaded guilty in the State Courts to three charges of using criminal force to molest the girls. Four other similar charges will be taken into consideration when he is sentenced. All the parties cannot be named due to a court-imposed gag order.
The court heard that the man entered into a relationship with the two victims’ mother in 2014. The woman’s daughters regarded him as their step-father even though he and the woman were not married.
In 2017, the man moved into his girlfriend’s flat. In addition to the couple and the two daughters, the woman’s two other sons and her father were also staying in the flat. Apart from her father, who slept in an individual room, the woman, her four children and her boyfriend slept on mattresses in the living room.
Sometime between 17 April and 8 May last year, the man was playing a game on his mobile phone and noticed the eight-year-old girl scratching her legs and thighs while she was sleeping.
Assuming there were bed bugs on the mattress, the man brushed the girl’s leg to get rid of the bed bugs. He did the same to one of her brothers.
The man then turned his attention back to the girl and touched her private parts several times. He said during investigations that he felt aroused by looking at the way the girl slept.
On at least six occasions, the man sexually abused the 13-year-old girl in the flat in a similar manner.
The man admitted that he only touched the girls at night when it was dark and everyone was sleeping. When asked by investigators why he committed the acts, he said, “It was an urge I guess. I can’t control my sexual urge.”
The offences came to light when a child protection officer filed a police report, saying she received information that the eight-year-old girl had been sexually assaulted by her step-father.
A psychiatric assessment of the man revealed that he had paedophilic tendencies whenever he was in close proximity with pre-pubescent girls.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Michael Quilindo urged the court to jail the man for six years plus 12 strokes of the cane.
The offences were premeditated because they happened at night in the dark, DPP Quilindo said. The man had abused the trust placed in him and committed “egregious” forms of molest on the two victims, DPP Quilindo added.
In mitigation, the man’s lawyer Melvin Loh said the man was aware that what he was doing was wrong. The man wished to take responsibility for his offences and asked for leniency because he was a first-time offender, Loh added.
District Judge Kessler Soh will sentence the man on 14 May.
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