A 47-year-old Filipino man, who is also a Singapore permanent resident, was sentenced to five years’ jail with 12 strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to three counts of molesting his 13-year-old daughter.
- He pleaded guilty in the State Courts of Singapore. According to the Charges, he stomped on his wife’s head in front of their two young causing her to suffer facial fractures. Two other similar charges involving the same girl were taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing.
- At the material time, the man thought his daughter was asleep in their home when he crept towards the girl and molested her. The girl was awake and aware of what her father was doing but did not know how to react. He preyed on her again when she fell asleep in their shared bedroom. This time, she was jolted awake but, despite this, he continued molesting her.
- It is unclear whether he was represented by a Criminal Defence Lawyer during the presentation of his mitigation plea and when the Court imposed the sentence.
Outrage of modesty is an offence under section 354 of the Penal Code (Cap 224) which states:
Assault or use of criminal force to a person with intent to outrage modesty
354.—(1) Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any person, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage the modesty of that person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years, or with fine, or with caning, or with any combination of such punishments.
(2) Whoever commits an offence under subsection (1) against any person under 14 years of age shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 5 years, or with fine, or with caning, or with any combination of such punishments.
For this case, the man could have been punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 5 years because the victim was under 14 years of age.
More information on the case may be found here.