Man jailed for raping adoptive granddaughter, 9

Within just two months, he sexually assaulted his young adoptive granddaughter seven times.

Being a grandfather to six other children did not stop him from raping the then nine-year-old girl between November 2012 and January 2013.

The 59-year-old machine operator, who cannot be named, to protect his victim's identity, was jailed for 12½ years yesterday after pleading guilty to two counts of rape and one count of performing an indecent act on her.

Four other counts of performing indecent acts on the girl were taken into consideration during sentencing.

The man's daughter, 37, who married a Malaysian, had adopted the girl shortly after she was born and they lived in Johor Baru.

But in November 2012, the woman had a fall and injured her leg.

To recover, she came here with the girl, to stay with her parents in their flat in the western part of Singapore.

Later that month, the girl, who has low IQ, was playing with her toys on the man's bed and he was lying down nearby. She later went to the bathroom.

When she came out, he got her to sit on his thigh and became sexually aroused. He then undressed and raped the girl.

The pair were in the bedroom again about a month later when he asked her to perform oral sex on him.

He sexually abused her when she refused.

The girl's adoptive mother noticed that her father appeared to be very close to the youngster.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Lin Yinbing, said that during her stay at the man's flat, he frequently took the girl out for walks and to visit places.

The pair were alone in the flat on Jan 3, 2013, when he raped her for the second time.

He warned her not to tell anyone about the incidents and threatened to beat her if she did.

DISCOVERED

But the offences came to light later that day when she told her adoptive mother about it. The woman lodged a police report that night.

In mitigation, his lawyer, Mr S.S. Dhillon told Justice Chan Seng Onn that according to a medical report, the girl's hymen was found to still be intact.

Calling for a sentence of no more than 10 years' jail, the lawyer added that the man regretted his actions.

DPP Lin, however, pressed for a jail sentence of at least 16 years.

She stressed that the sentence should not depend on the extent of penetration.

She said although the man is not biologically related to the girl, she had treated and respected him as her grandfather.

She added: "Instead of protecting and nurturing (her) like a grandfather should do, (he) abused his position of authority by sexually exploiting her."

Before handing out the sentence, Justice Chan noted that the man had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, saving the girl from the trauma of reliving her ordeal if she were to testify in court.

However, the judge added that the sexual acts were heinous and that the man had exploited his young victim, who has a low IQ.

For each count of rape, he could have been jailed up to 20 years and fined.

He escaped caning as he is above 50 years old.

"Instead of protecting and nurturing (her) like a grandfather should do, (he) abused his position of authority by sexually exploiting her."

- Deputy Public Prosecutor Lin Yinbing