Cabby jailed 11 months for molesting stepdaughter
A taxi driver who repeatedly molested his teenage stepdaughter, sometimes in the presence of other family members, was sentenced to 11 months' jail yesterday.
The 58-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the girl's identity, committed the offences in the family's Bedok North flat.
He first molested the girl, who was then 14 years old, in early 2012 and continued the assaults into 2013, the court heard during the 25-day trial.
The girl testified that she was sleeping in the living room beside her siblings when she felt someone stepping on her mattress. She later felt someone squeezing her buttocks over her clothes and saw her stepfather walking away when she opened her eyes.
He molested the girl again later that year. Her younger brother saw him committing the offence but the children's mother laughed him off when he told her about what he had seen. The woman is still married to her daughter's molester.
The taxi driver outraged his stepdaughter's modesty for the third time in 2012 when she entered his bedroom to retrieve some clothes. She testified that when she walked past him, he grabbed her hand and she lost her balance.
In her submissions,Deputy Public Prosecutor Jesintha Veijayaratnam told the court: "As she was on the floor, the accused used his other hand to grab her ankles. He then stroked her from her chest to her groin area."
In 2013, the man molested the girl as she was entering their flat with her siblings after a family outing.
The girl is now living with her maternal grandmother while her brother lives with his father.
Offenders can be jailed for up to two years and fined or caned for each count of molestation. The taxi driver cannot be caned as he is over 50 years of age.
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