by Elena Chong
A YOUTH who was on home leave when he raped his 14-year-old
step-sister was jailed for 10 years and ordered to be given 12
strokes of the cane on Wednesday.
As a result, the girl gave birth to a baby girl early last year.
The child has since been fostered out.
The 18-year-old accused had earlier admitted to two charges of
rape in February and March 2009, with another two taken into
consideration during the sentencing. A Community Court had heard
that the girl, now 16, did not consent to him having sex with
her.
She had in fact called out to her half-brother to get the keys
of the bedroom when the accused pulled her in and locked the door
on the first occasion. He raped her the following month (March
2009) when he was again on home leave. He had been sent to the home
for rioting.
The offences came to light when the girl told a school
counsellor in October 2009, what the accused had done to her. In
his oral decision, Community Court Judge Ng Peng Hong agreed with
the prosecution that a deterrent sentence was called for, in view
of the serious nature of the offences.
He said the victim was then a 14-year-old schoolgirl and
vulnerable when she was first raped at her own home. 'It was
aggravated by the fact that she became a mother to an unwanted baby
because of the rape committed by the accused,' he said. The
accused's sentence was backdated to Dec 4, 2009.
