SINGAPORE: A man who was tasked by a couple to keep an eye on their two children – his grandniece and grandnephew – ended up molesting the girl on two separate occasions.
At the time of the offences, the man was staying with the family, and the victim was around eight or nine years old.
The 61-year-old offender was sentenced to three years and six months’ jail on Feb 6 after he pleaded guilty to two molestation charges.
He cannot be named owing to a gag order to protect the victim’s identity.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Yap Jia Jun told the court that some time in 2016, the couple left for work, leaving the two children and the offender at home.
The trio were in the hall when the man asked the girl to go to a bedroom. He entered the room with the child, asked her to lie on the floor and molested her.
She kept quiet throughout the ordeal as she thought it was all part of a game.
After committing the offence, the man told the girl that she would face a “problem” if her mother found out about the incident. He struck again two days later.
Left alone at home with the children, the man watched a movie with the victim in the living room while her brother was asleep. He then asked the girl to go to the bedroom, where he molested her a second time.
Court documents did not disclose what happened next, but the man was charged in court in 2023.
For each count of molesting a child under the age of 14, an offender can be jailed for up to five years, fined, caned or receive any combination of such punishments.
In this case, the offender cannot be caned as he is over 50 years old. - The Straits Times/ANN
