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Man who had sex with stepdaughter, 15, in car jailed 3 years

The 41-year-old man pleaded guilty to one of two charges of statutory rape. (Photo: Getty)
The 41-year-old man pleaded guilty to one of two charges of statutory rape. (Photo: Getty)

SINGAPORE — A 41-year-old father of 10 who had sex with his underaged stepdaughter in his car at a multi-storey car park was on Monday (23 December) jailed for three years.

The man, who works as an assistant service engineer with a multi-national corporation, cannot be named to protect the victim’s identity. He was caught in the act by a policeman on patrol in January.

Last month, the man pleaded guilty to one of two charges of statutory rape, with the remaining count considered in sentencing as part of his plea bargain.

At the time, the victim was 15 and a Secondary 4 student.

Victim called accused ‘uncle’

The man has three children with his former wife who died in 2014. The next year, he met his current wife, whom he married in 2016. The couple have a child together.

The housewife also has five children from her first marriage and another child from her second marriage.

The family lived under one roof, with the victim referring to the man as “uncle”.

On the morning of 25 January, the man sent the victim and her siblings to school in his car. The victim asked him to pick her up at about 12.30pm so that she could rest in the car before her co-curricular activities at 3pm.

In the car at about 12.30pm, the victim asked if the man could send her home instead before sending her back to school. He agreed but drove to a multi-storey car park in northern Singapore.

After he parked the car, he asked the victim to rest at the rear passenger seat. She agreed and began lying on his body in the back seat.

They then began hugging and kissing each other before having unprotected sex for about half an hour.

Accused caught in state of undress

At about 2pm, a policeman saw the man and the victim in the rear passenger seat of the car. The cop saw that the bottom half of the victim’s body was undressed.

When the man and the victim saw the officer, they quickly separated and got dressed.

The policeman questioned the duo, who initially denied having sex. Upon further investigation, they admitted doing so.

It was the second time that they had sex at the car park, with the first time being in the third week of January.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Derek Ee had argued for a three-year jail term, noting that the man had gravely abused the trust placed in him by the girl’s mother.

In mitigation, the man’s lawyer Dilip Kumar said his client is the sole breadwinner of the family of 10 children and earns $3,178 a month. All but one child are still studying. The lawyer asked for a year or less in jail.

District Judge Teo Guan Kee allowed the man to defer his jail term to 3 January.

The maximum punishment for sexual penetration of a minor under 16 is up to 10 years’ jail and a fine.

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