Rapist stepdad gets 32 years' jail

SINGAPORE - He physically and sexually abused his stepdaughter for about three years before raping her when she was 14.

For that, the 37-year-old Singaporean was yesterday jailed 32 years and given 24 strokes of the cane, the maximum allowed under the law.

The real estate agent cannot be named to protect the identity of his victim.

Last month, he pleaded guilty to two counts each of rape, outrage of modesty and voluntarily causing hurt, and one count of sexual assault by penetration.

Eleven charges, including two other counts of rape against his stepdaughter, and four counts of voluntarily causing hurt to her sister, were taken into consideration during sentencing.

He did not sexually abuse the sister.

Judicial Commissioner Tan Siong Thye said the 32-year term was an appropriate deterrent punishment but not a crushing sentence in the context of his "despicable and callous crimes". The girls' ordeal started in 2008 after he married their mother.

He started groping the older sister, then 11, when she was sleeping in her bedroom.

He also assaulted the sisters. Initially, he scolded them when they misbehaved.

Later, he slapped them and hit their faces and hands with metal ladles.

The abuse escalated to punches, hair pulling and kicking.

Once, he slapped the younger girl's face, then lifted her by the neck and dropped her.

More than once, he cornered the older sister in the toilet while she was bathing and abused her sexually.

She did not tell anyone as she feared he would hurt her.

In November 2011, the mother left the man, taking the children with her.

The girl told her friends about the rape in March 2012 and was persuaded to make a police report.

The couple's divorce was finalised in August that year.

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