Singapore jails man for attempted rape, ‘brazen’ molestation of stepdaughter at home

A 41-year-old man was sentenced to six years and seven months’ jail and eight strokes of the cane on Wednesday (May 29) for the attempted rape and molestation of his stepdaughter, then aged 11 or 12.

The man pleaded guilty to aggravated attempted rape of a person aged under 14, as well as outrage of modesty.

Both the offender and his victim cannot be named due to a Singapore court order to protect the victim’s identity.

The man’s sentence was backdated to his date of arrest on May 18 last year.

Court documents showed that the man had been in a romantic relationship with the victim’s biological mother since 2004, and later moved in together with them and lived as a family.

The victim, who was between five and six years old then, treated the man like a father figure.

They moved houses multiple times over the years – in 2010, they moved in with the man’s parents in the Chua Chu Kang district and later moved to a rented bedroom of a flat in Geylang in 2013.

The man and the victim’s mother registered their marriage in 2015.

They have four other children born between 2005 and 2013.

Sometime between 2010 and 2011 at about 2am to 3am, when the rest of the family was asleep in the living room of their home, the man woke up the victim and took her to the kitchen toilet.

He did so knowing that the victim, who was aged between 11 and 12 at the time, was quiet in nature and would follow his instructions.

The man tried to have sex with her but failed to do so after multiple attempts. He then sexually abused her.

In September 2013, when the victim was 14 years old, the man struck again to molest her when they were in the bedroom.

Most of the victim’s step-siblings were watching television in the same room when it happened.

The victim’s mother was