SINGAPORE, Aug 22 — When he was just six years old, his step-uncle sexually assaulted him in their home.

The sexual assault stopped five years later when the boy ran away from home after learning that his step-uncle’s actions were wrong during a sex education class in school.

Yesterday (August 21), the High Court sentenced the step-uncle, now 29, to 16 years’ imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane for three counts of aggregated sexual assault with penetration. Another 19 similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

He cannot be named due to a court order protecting the victim’s identity.

What happened

The victim had seen his step-uncle as a fatherly figure — he had never met his biological father, and his stepfather preferred his biological children to him.

The adults in the family also subjected the boy to harsh physical punishment, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Heershan Kaur said.

"The accused would pick the victim up from school and helped the victim with his homework. He also gave the victim extra money to buy food,” DPP Kaur said.

Court documents showed that the man sexually assaulted his step-nephew 22 times, of which 21 took place in their home. The other incident was at a fast food outlet’s toilet for the handicap.

The man had done so to relieve himself from stress and for his own sexual gratification, DPP Kaur said.

The first sexual assault was in 2011, when the victim was six years old and the step-uncle 16.

Most occurred in the step-uncle’s bedroom — which he shared with his brother — typically in the afternoon when there was nobody or fewer people in the house, or at night when everyone else had slept.

To invite his step-nephew into his bedroom, the young man would use the excuse of study or play. He would then put a blanket over both of them so that his brother could not see what was happening.

There were also times when the man would lock the bedroom door instead and not use the blanket, DPP Kaur said.

"The victim cried after each occasion,” she added.

On some occasions, the man asked his step-nephew to touch him, and on one occasion to engage in a sexual act.

The victim did not tell anyone about the sexual assaults, because his step-uncle said that he would scold the victim less and treat him better if he did as he was told. The boy was also fearful, court documents stated.

It was only in 2015, when the victim was in Primary 5, did he learn through sex education classes that his step-uncle was sexually assaulting him. The boy then ran away from home.

Reporting the incident

After running away, the victim was sent to a foster home. He did not tell anyone what he went through because he was afraid to do so, and wanted to move on from the incidents, DPP Kaur said.

However, after being pressed by his psychiatrist to talk about his past, the victim eventually revealed what his step-uncle had done. Court documents did not state when the victim spoke to his psychiatrist.

The victim also told a social worker working on his case later, because "this had been bothering him for a very long time and he just wanted to tell someone about it”, DPP Kaur said.

A police report was made on Feb 18 in 2020 and the step-uncle was arrested at his workplace a few days later. He was employed as a deskside engineer.

The victim was found to be "distressed and uncomfortable” when recounting the sexual abuse he faced during a medical examination. He also expressed that it was hard to forgive his step-uncle and he felt anger towards the man.

For each charge of aggravated sexual assault by penetration, the man could have been jailed between eight and 20 years, and caned no less than 12 times. ― TODAY