Taken from Straits Times Interactive
Nov 27, 2004
Family's 14-year saga of rape and incest ends
Granddad assaulted daughter and later 2 granddaughters, as did
their stepdad
By Elena Chong
OVER two separate courts, details emerged yesterday of a tragic
saga of rape and incest, spanning 14 years and endured by a woman
and her two mentally retarded daughters.
At the end of it, the woman's father and her second husband drew
long prison terms, as well as, in the husband's case, 24 strokes of
the cane.
Yet, it was the twisted behaviour of the older man, spared the rod
at 61, that had gone on longer.
Some 14 years ago, in March 1990, he had raped his 18-year-old
daughter when she was just one month married: After a drink too
many, he had forced himself on her in her bedroom.
Following this, for a year and a half, father and daughter would
have consensual sex at least once a month until she was four or
five months' pregnant, in October 1991.
She went on to give birth to two girls, in March 1992 and March
1993, whose IQ was found by a child psychiatrist to be in the
moderate to mild-moderate mental retardation range.
But the old man had not mellowed.
Ten years on, in 2002, he decided he 'wanted to experience sex with
a virgin' - as Deputy Public Prosecutor Chong Kah Wei put it
yesterday - and bore down on the older girl.
Between June and July that year, he tried to rape the then
10-year-old, then settled for making her perform oral sex on
him.
He raped her in November 2002 and January last year.
Yesterday, DPP Chong called for a 'substantial' jail term, saying
the man had abused his positions of trust to satisfy 'his vile
urges'.
'The offences which the accused has committed against his daughter
and granddaughter, his own flesh and blood, are so depraved and
aggravating that they completely overshadow and outweigh any
mitigating factors in this case.'
And yet he was not the only man forcing himself on his
granddaughter.
The girls' mother had divorced in 1994, after her husband
discovered her naked with her own father.
She married another man two years later, in September 1996, with
whom she had two sons.
It was this 44-year-old man who now preyed on his two
stepdaughters.
When the older girl turned 11 - already violated by her grandfather
- her stepdad raped her in March last year.
Then, in June or July last year, as the two sisters were lying
beside him and watching television, he forced the older girl to
perform oral sex on him.
Then, after raping her, he outraged the modesty of the younger
girl, then 10, who had giggled when she saw what was going
on.
It was not yet over.
In Jan 16 this year, the stepfather again raped his stepdaughter
and had her perform oral sex on him.
Addressing the court on sentence, DPP Ravneet Kaur noted how the
stepfather had committed at least 27 sexual acts, over almost a
year, against the victims - who were abused so often they stopped
resisting his advances.
'It is abhorrent, the manner in which the accused treated the
victims like playthings at his disposal,' she said.
The offences came to light after an aunt asked the older girl why
she was scratching her private parts.
The truth came tumbling out and the horrified aunt called the
girls' father. The whole 14-year saga was eventually unravelled by
police investigators.
Yesterday, in their respective courtrooms, both men pleaded for
leniency, saying they were sole breadwinners.
The bespectacled grandfather said that his own flesh and blood now
looked down on him. He claimed he was 'not in the right state of
mind' when he committed the offences and begged for
forgiveness.
Justice Choo Han Teck jailed him for 22 years.
In a courtroom one storey above, the stepfather - of medium build
and clad in yellow T-shirt and light-brown trousers - received a
32-year sentence and 24 strokes of the cane from Justice Tay Yong
Kwang.
The two girls are now being cared for by their aunt.
No family members were in court yesterday.
EMBARRASSED, HUMILIATED,
CONFUSED
SINCE their ordeal, the two young girls have had difficulty
concentrating in class or mixing with friends.
In their victim impact statements, they recounted sleepless nights
spent fearing what their stepfather and grandfather would do next,
and feeling 'frightened and shocked' at their treatment.
Though the older girl, 12, recalls feeling disgusted and helpless
when her grandfather violated her, she harboured other, simplistic
fears that tug at the heartstrings: 'I was afraid that if I did not
comply with his instructions or told anyone about it, then he would
not take care of me. He had told me this before.'
She adds: 'Until today, whenever anyone talks to me about the
attacks or if I am reminded in any way of the attacks, I cannot
take it as I feel embarrassed and humiliated and will break down
and cry. I also had nightmares.'
The 11-year-old, after experiencing sexual abuse, was so confused
she thought it was all right to 'explore' with other boys 'by
removing their pants'.
'I have been reprimanded for doing those things and this had made
me feel embarrassed and humiliated,' she said.
Both girls were angry with their stepfather and grandfather, whom
they had trusted and looked up to.
They expressed sadness because their family had been split and they
could not see their stepbrothers.
Once, they led 'normal lives', both said.
But after the abuse they started keeping to themselves.
