When sex predators are trusted as protectors
By Bryna Sim
FIRST, he noticed the 14-year-old girl using the end of a broomstick to poke at her hamsters' and rabbits' private parts.
Then, he saw her use sharp objects such as twigs, sticks, and even a screwdriver to cut the animals' private parts.
Something was wrong, reckoned Pastor Andrew Lim, director of the Andrew & Grace Home, a shelter for troubled teens and juvenile delinquents.
Later, he found out why the girl was abusing her pets - she had been sexually abused before she arrived at the home, and she was using the tools on the animals to re-enact her ordeal.
Pastor Lim made a police report and the girl was counselled.
That incident took place nearly six years ago. The girl was of low IQ.
Another 14-year-old, a boy with a low IQ, became a victim of a predator. He was sexually abused by Amayapan Kodanpany, a 59-year-old odd-job labourer.
Are low IQ children more vulnerable to sexual abuse?
Amayapan had befriended the boy at a playground near the boy's home in March 2007. The boy had gone there after he had a fight with his mother's boyfriend and was chased out of his home.
Amayapan offered to take the boy in, but he had ulterior motives. He sodomised the boy and forced the teenager to perform oral sex on him on several occasions during the five months that the boy stayed with him.
Amayapan was sentenced to three years' jail on Thursday.
Counsellors, psychologists and psychiatrists told The New Paper on Sunday that intellectually-challenged children like the 14-year-old boy are easy prey because they are more easily manipulated.
Dr Ang Peng Chye, a consultant psychiatrist in private practice, said such children lack cognitive ability.
'They are easily manipulated because they cannot tell right from wrong,' he explained.
Dr Danny Ng, a clinical psychologist with Raffles Hospital, noted that teenagers or children with low IQ usually have 'a simplistic way of looking at things'.
Ms Vanessa von Auer, clinic director and psychologist at the VA Psychology Centre, agreed.
'They may not understand that it is morally wrong when people touch them inappropriately,' she said.
'They misperceive and misunderstand the signals given off from the other party to be good, when the other party might actually have ill intentions.'
Often, the misperception occurs because the child desires love and affection.
Referring to the case of the 14-year-old boy, Ms von Auer felt that he might not have felt safe or loved in his family environment.
Acting like saviour
'By (Amayapan) acting like a saviour, protector and friend, the boy is highly likely to have believed and trusted in Amayapan,' she said. 'The boy might have perceived Amayapan as the only person whom he could feel safe with.'
In sentencing Amayapan, the judge said he had 'exploited the victim's vulnerability', given that the boy was homeless and immature.
Ms von Auer noted that the young victims might not even realise that they have been sexually exploited.
Dr Ng added: 'The trauma is often so deep that it surfaces only months or even years later.'
Sometimes, the delayed realisation occurs because the victim views the predator as a friend.
Ms von Auer said: 'The victim believes that this is what friends do, so the perpetrator can keep engaging in the sexual exploitation.'
By Bryna Sim
FIRST, he noticed the 14-year-old girl using the end of a broomstick to poke at her hamsters' and rabbits' private parts.
Then, he saw her use sharp objects such as twigs, sticks, and even a screwdriver to cut the animals' private parts.
Something was wrong, reckoned Pastor Andrew Lim, director of the Andrew & Grace Home, a shelter for troubled teens and juvenile delinquents.
Later, he found out why the girl was abusing her pets - she had been sexually abused before she arrived at the home, and she was using the tools on the animals to re-enact her ordeal.
Pastor Lim made a police report and the girl was counselled.
That incident took place nearly six years ago. The girl was of low IQ.
Another 14-year-old, a boy with a low IQ, became a victim of a predator. He was sexually abused by Amayapan Kodanpany, a 59-year-old odd-job labourer.
Are low IQ children more vulnerable to sexual abuse?
Amayapan had befriended the boy at a playground near the boy's home in March 2007. The boy had gone there after he had a fight with his mother's boyfriend and was chased out of his home.
Amayapan offered to take the boy in, but he had ulterior motives. He sodomised the boy and forced the teenager to perform oral sex on him on several occasions during the five months that the boy stayed with him.
Amayapan was sentenced to three years' jail on Thursday.
Counsellors, psychologists and psychiatrists told The New Paper on Sunday that intellectually-challenged children like the 14-year-old boy are easy prey because they are more easily manipulated.
Dr Ang Peng Chye, a consultant psychiatrist in private practice, said such children lack cognitive ability.
'They are easily manipulated because they cannot tell right from wrong,' he explained.
Dr Danny Ng, a clinical psychologist with Raffles Hospital, noted that teenagers or children with low IQ usually have 'a simplistic way of looking at things'.
Ms Vanessa von Auer, clinic director and psychologist at the VA Psychology Centre, agreed.
'They may not understand that it is morally wrong when people touch them inappropriately,' she said.
'They misperceive and misunderstand the signals given off from the other party to be good, when the other party might actually have ill intentions.'
Often, the misperception occurs because the child desires love and affection.
Referring to the case of the 14-year-old boy, Ms von Auer felt that he might not have felt safe or loved in his family environment.
Acting like saviour
'By (Amayapan) acting like a saviour, protector and friend, the boy is highly likely to have believed and trusted in Amayapan,' she said. 'The boy might have perceived Amayapan as the only person whom he could feel safe with.'
In sentencing Amayapan, the judge said he had 'exploited the victim's vulnerability', given that the boy was homeless and immature.
Ms von Auer noted that the young victims might not even realise that they have been sexually exploited.
Dr Ng added: 'The trauma is often so deep that it surfaces only months or even years later.'
Sometimes, the delayed realisation occurs because the victim views the predator as a friend.
Ms von Auer said: 'The victim believes that this is what friends do, so the perpetrator can keep engaging in the sexual exploitation.'
