By Selina Lum

OVER a period of close to 10 years, a man first repeatedly raped his stepdaughters, then continued to brainwash them into having consensual sex with him.

The man treated the sisters as his sex slaves, manipulating them first with a supposed 'beauty ritual', and later with threats of exposure.

His offences came to light only last June, when the sisters' mother inadvertently discovered that her older daughter had had an abortion in August 2007.

Upon discussing the situation with her younger daughter, the mother found out about the persistent sexual abuse.

The 42-year-old woman reported her husband to the police, and the man was arrested the next day.

Yesterday, he pleaded guilty to 13 charges of rape, aggravated rape and having sex with a minor. A further 74 charges were taken into consideration.

The High Court jailed the 45-year-old for 30 years and ordered that he be given 24 strokes of the cane, the maximum number allowed by law.

The girls' years of horror began in 1999, just four months after the man married their mother. The children were then aged 11 and 13.

He approached the girls individually and manipulated them into complying with his plans, preying on their youth and gullibility. He told them he knew a ritual that would make them prettier. While pretending to perform this ritual, he raped them.

The court heard that he first used this ruse on the older daughter. One morning in October 1999, he left their home, supposedly to take the girl to school. Instead, he took her to his mother's empty flat, where he pretended to perform the ritual and then raped her.

He told her not to tell anyone about it, especially her mother.

He pulled the same trick on the younger girl, stressing that her older sister had 'taken it', and she had nothing to worry about. He told her that in order for the ritual to work, she must keep it a secret. He added that she had to continue with the ritual until she got married.

The sisters believed in the ritual and felt compelled to continue having regular sex with him. They later told psychiatrists that he said he would physically and verbally abuse their mother if they rejected his advances.

The man also took photos and videos of his stepdaughters in the nude and threatened to circulate the images.

While the abuse was going on, the younger daughter cut her wrists, a form of self-harm that experts say is intended to relieve emotional pain.

Yesterday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Shahla Iqbal urged Justice Tay Yong Kwang to impose a deterrent sentence.

She said the man had abused his position in the household and carefully planned a 'devious scheme' that allowed him to repeatedly have sex with his young stepdaughters, now aged 20 and 22.

Offenders knew victims

Court statistics show that most cases of rape involve perpetrators known to their victims.

From June 2006 to December 2007, the High Court heard 12 cases of serious sexual crimes including rape, attempted rape and unnatural sex.

The offenders knew their victims in 10 cases.

And these were only the cases that came to light.

Out of 47 cases of sexual offences heard in the High Court between 2003 and 2007, 21 or 44.7 per cent involved victims aged below 14.

15 years' jail for another stepdad

Before raping his mildly retarded stepdaughter, he told her 'Father only do one time' and 'for a while'.

The 51-year-old general worker yesterday paid the price for his abhorrent act when he was jailed for 15 years for raping the 23-year-old woman in January last year.

The man was spared the rotan due to his age, as the law states that those over 50 cannot be caned.

The woman went to the police days after the rape in January, but the man was arrested only in March, after he sexually assaulted her again.

Both crimes took place in the family flat, where the man lived with his wife, their two teenage daughters and the victim, who is from his wife's first marriage.

At that time, the woman, who has an IQ of 51, could not hold down a job so she stayed at home to help with chores. Normal people have an IQs of between 90 and 110. She is now at a welfare home.

In a closed-door hearing, the High Court heard yesterday that the man and his stepdaughter were the only ones at home one afternoon in mid-January. She had just finished taking a shower when he forced his way in and raped her.

She lodged a report at a neighbourhood police centre a few days later. A medical report suggested previous incidents of sexual intercourse.

Yesterday, the stepfather pleaded guilty to the rape. He could have been jailed for up to 20 years.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Jan 24, 2009.