When John was 17, he bashed up and raped his 15-year-old sister.
That story, along with several other teen terror reports raised
some concerns among Singaporeans. How could such things happen to
children? STOMPer Anngry thinks parents are at fault.
At the tender age of 13, John (not his real name) had already been
sent to a juvenile home for distributing obscene films, theft and
voluntarily causing hurt.
Then, at 17 and obviously unremorseful, he became a sex monster by
molesting and raping his younger sister.
Last week, the 21-year-old national serviceman was sentenced to 13
years in jail and 15 strokes of the cane for the sexual abuse as
well as several traffic offences.
In another teen terror story, 16-year-old Paul (not his real name)
bashed up and raped his 15-year-old girlfriend, Anna (not her real
name). The abuse happened not once, but thrice, and it wasn't until
the third rape that Anna decided not to stay silent anymore, and
confided in a friend.
All these teen terror reports have left STOMPer Anngry baffled.
What are the parents doing, says the STOMPer.
In the STOMPer’s email:
“It’s hard to believe that all these offenders and victims are only
in their teens. Unfortunately, cases like these are not uncommon.
Sexual abuse amongst teenagers is on the rise, and the question on
everyone’s minds is – who’s to blame?
“The first thing that comes to our minds are the parents. How could
parents possibly allow such things to happen right under their
noses? Don’t they have any idea what their children are up
to?
“Parents can protect their adolescents from developing problem
behaviours if they implement recommended best parenting
practices.
“Aren’t parents supposed to be educators and protectors? Who can a
child possibly turn to if they can't even rely on their parents for
help and guidance?
“One may argue that these parents could possibly be out working
hard so that they can provide for their children and give them a
better life. But can they be so indulged in their work that they
have absolutely no inkling about what’s going on at home? Now
that’s not sensible parenting.
“Kids do not become troubled teenagers overnight. Prior to
committing sexual abuse, surely there are signs. Kids are bound to
commit strings of smaller offences or have behavioural problems
growing up. Take John’s story for example, he had issues every
since he was young. At only 13, he already started distributing
obscene films and voluntarily caused hurt. However, in his case,
his parents were aware of his behavioural problems so they took him
to the psychiatrist. But even having done that, it didn’t really
help.
“Could the parents have resorted to other measures to control their
son? Or was their son a lost cause? Could they have done anything
to prevent their son from raping his own sister.
“Even if there was no way they could have prevented this from
happening, how come they have allowed such a terrible thing to
happen in their own house? Why could they not tell that their
daughter, the victim, was hurting and in pain? Surely words don’t
have to be spoken for them to figure out that something was
wrong?
“We all know that it’s hard to keep track of a child’s everyday
doings, but come on, there has to be some level of supervision
right?
“I think these parents are somewhat responsible for their
children’s actions. They could have done more to have prevented all
these unfortunate things from happening.”