<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Daughter kena raped also nebermind woh!
Judge saw no need for rape victim to testify
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>He explains sentencing of stepdad to jail and caning despite no-show by young rape victim </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By K C Vijayan, Law Correspondent
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->IT WAS an unusual case - a rape victim had vanished and never got to testify against her attacker.
But still, the judge convicted the man, who is the girl's stepfather, and sentenced him to jail for 25 years and the maximum 24 strokes of the cane.
Justice Tay Yong Kwang, in explaining his verdict, said in a written judgment yesterday that there was no requirement in law that the victim had to show up to testify.
The case, where names cannot be revealed to protect the identity of the victim, is believed to to be the first in recent times where the accused has been convicted of grave sexual offences without the victim testifying.
Justice Tay said an accused person can be convicted solely on his own confession, provided the court is 'satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the confession is voluntary and sufficiently reliable'.
The man, a 37-year-old software engineer, had made five written statements and another oral statement to police investigators in May last year.
He was then charged with 16 counts of raping his stepdaughter and 26 charges of making her perform oral sex on him within a span of two years.
Both the girl and her mother left Singapore for India in August last year and have been untraceable since. Even with Interpol's help, the mother and daughter pair could not be found.
It is believed the mother, aged 36, disappeared in the hope that the charges against him would not stick.
She had been visiting him almost daily when he was remanded at Queenstown Prison from May till August last year and then left for India after getting his agreement to sell their property there.
It is understood she regretted reporting the rapes to the police when she realised her husband would stand to face very heavy penalties.
At that time, she had been angry with him for continuing an affair with a colleague here - this point was used by the rapist to allege that his wife had instigated her daughter to make these allegations against him to get back at him.
The couple have four children, two of whom, including the victim, were the rapist's stepchildren by the woman's first marriage.
The Indian national, who defended himself during the trial, changed his tune while in court, claiming he admitted to the crimes when questioned by the police out of 'fear and stupidity'.
Justice Tay said the rapist took the trouble to explain in his statements that the stepdaughter was not really his daughter, 'as if trying to downplay the abhorrence of a father having sex with his offspring'.
He had also tried to portray the stepdaughter as a rebellious and scheming young girl through the evidence of her former teachers.
The judge noted that the rapist had also admitted to his crimes to a psychiatrist, making 'candid' admissions and saying the sexual acts were 'entirely consensual'.
Under the law, consent is no defence to having sex with a girl under the age of 14.
The offences were committed when the girl was between 11 and 13 years old in the Telok Blangah and, subsequently, Yishun flats where the family lived.
'Even if she was so precocious and so sexually charged up, the accused, as her stepfather, should never have encouraged her to have sex with him in the first place,' said Justice Tay.
The judge added that the accused as a parent had a duty to provide for her and protect her.
'Instead, he treated this young girl as if she were a sex worker who was to provide him sexual pleasure in the afternoons in the comfort of his home.' [email protected]
Judge saw no need for rape victim to testify
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>He explains sentencing of stepdad to jail and caning despite no-show by young rape victim </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By K C Vijayan, Law Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->IT WAS an unusual case - a rape victim had vanished and never got to testify against her attacker.
But still, the judge convicted the man, who is the girl's stepfather, and sentenced him to jail for 25 years and the maximum 24 strokes of the cane.
Justice Tay Yong Kwang, in explaining his verdict, said in a written judgment yesterday that there was no requirement in law that the victim had to show up to testify.
The case, where names cannot be revealed to protect the identity of the victim, is believed to to be the first in recent times where the accused has been convicted of grave sexual offences without the victim testifying.
Justice Tay said an accused person can be convicted solely on his own confession, provided the court is 'satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the confession is voluntary and sufficiently reliable'.
The man, a 37-year-old software engineer, had made five written statements and another oral statement to police investigators in May last year.
He was then charged with 16 counts of raping his stepdaughter and 26 charges of making her perform oral sex on him within a span of two years.
Both the girl and her mother left Singapore for India in August last year and have been untraceable since. Even with Interpol's help, the mother and daughter pair could not be found.
It is believed the mother, aged 36, disappeared in the hope that the charges against him would not stick.
She had been visiting him almost daily when he was remanded at Queenstown Prison from May till August last year and then left for India after getting his agreement to sell their property there.
It is understood she regretted reporting the rapes to the police when she realised her husband would stand to face very heavy penalties.
At that time, she had been angry with him for continuing an affair with a colleague here - this point was used by the rapist to allege that his wife had instigated her daughter to make these allegations against him to get back at him.
The couple have four children, two of whom, including the victim, were the rapist's stepchildren by the woman's first marriage.
The Indian national, who defended himself during the trial, changed his tune while in court, claiming he admitted to the crimes when questioned by the police out of 'fear and stupidity'.
Justice Tay said the rapist took the trouble to explain in his statements that the stepdaughter was not really his daughter, 'as if trying to downplay the abhorrence of a father having sex with his offspring'.
He had also tried to portray the stepdaughter as a rebellious and scheming young girl through the evidence of her former teachers.
The judge noted that the rapist had also admitted to his crimes to a psychiatrist, making 'candid' admissions and saying the sexual acts were 'entirely consensual'.
Under the law, consent is no defence to having sex with a girl under the age of 14.
The offences were committed when the girl was between 11 and 13 years old in the Telok Blangah and, subsequently, Yishun flats where the family lived.
'Even if she was so precocious and so sexually charged up, the accused, as her stepfather, should never have encouraged her to have sex with him in the first place,' said Justice Tay.
The judge added that the accused as a parent had a duty to provide for her and protect her.
'Instead, he treated this young girl as if she were a sex worker who was to provide him sexual pleasure in the afternoons in the comfort of his home.' [email protected]
