Rapist father jailed, caned

SINGAPORE: A father who raped his seven-year-old daughter was jailed 11 years jail and given 16 strokes of the cane on Tuesday morning in court.

The prosecution told the court that the rape was committed by the girl's father whose job was to protect and care for the child.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sabrina Choo said that although the 42-year-old had mitigated that he was under the influence of alcohol, intoxication has been disregarded as a mitigating factor in sentencing. The fact that this was the man's first offence of this nature was also of limited value, she added.

One morning in 2005, the then-Primary One student was alone at home with her father. Her mother was at work and her two elder brothers were not home.

The father entered the girl's bedroom when she was sleeping and removed her clothes, waking the girl up. He told her to keep quiet, and instructed her to close her eyes and place her hands behind her back. The girl complied with the instructions as she was afraid of her father, who then raped her.

After the rape, her father told her to take a shower and later sent her to school. When they arrived at school, he told her not to tell anyone what had happened. She only confided in a teacher about the incident last February when the teacher told the story of "Little Red Riding Hood" in class to illustrate the dangers of talking to strangers.

The teacher asked the class if they had previous encounters with strangers. Later during the class, the girl told the teacher that her father had done "the sex thing" to her.

The man has been on the wrong side of the law since 1989. He was fined $800 for drug possession that year. In 1998 and 2002, he was jailed for 12 months and three years and six months respectively for drug consumption.

Source: CNA online