SINGAPORE – A 42-year-old food stall assistant, who sexually abused his biological daughter in the family flat for more than two years, was on Monday (March 20) sentenced to 23½ years jail and the maximum 24 strokes of the cane.

He is appealing against conviction and sentence and has been granted $150,000 bail pending his appeal hearing.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his daughter, had committed various sexual offences against her from the end of 2011 to April 2014, when she was between 11 and 13 years old.

He denied the charges. Among other things, his lawyer argued it was “highly improbable” for him to have committed some of the acts, given the size and condition of his penis, which is deformed from an enlargement procedure.

However, this was rejected by Judicial Commissioner Aedit Abdullah, who found him guilty last month of all 10 charges, including four counts of sexual assault by penetration.

On Monday, the prosecution sought a sentence of 24 years and 24 strokes of the cane for the man for his “campaign of abuse” in performing “degrading” acts on his daughter.

Deputy Public Prosecutor April Phang said the man’s “vexatious defence” about the size of his penis was a “cock and bull story conceived purely as an afterthought to undermine the prosecution”.

“It was really the victim’s misfortune to have a sexual pervert for a father,” said the DPP, adding that this is one of the most deplorable cases to come before the courts.

She submitted victim impact statements from the girl and the man’s ex-wife to show how his acts offences had affected them.

The girl, now 16, said of her father: “He had hurt me more than anyone can imagine, physically, mentally and emotionally. For two years, I have had to live with what he had done to me. He had clearly breached his responsibilities as a father. Words have not even been invented for what he did to me.”

The girl’s mother noted that she had “missed all the signs” that her eldest daughter was suffering for two years. “The bottom dropped out of my world the day (the victim) gathered enough courage to tell me about the sexual abuse,” she said.

“I am truly disgusted for what (the accused) had done to my daughter… He had a faithful wife and well-behaved children… But the person who is supposed to protect us did not protect us, yet ruined our lives.”

Most of the abuse took place in the master bedroom where the girl used the computer for school projects. Her father would ensure the door was closed and locked before carrying out the sex acts.

The girl said she kept quiet as she was afraid the family would break up. But she decided she had enough after yet another assault on April 15, 2014.

She sent her mother a long text message revealing the abuse. After getting over the shock, her mother replied 12 minutes later: “I love you. You have me always.”

The next day, the woman threw her husband out of the flat. Three weeks later, she made a police report and filed for divorce.

After the sentence was passed, the girl said she was glad that her father would get the maximum strokes of caning.

“He didn’t even show any remorse today. He has the guts to turn around and smile at us. What is that all about?” said the girl, who came to court in her school uniform.

Her mother said: “No matter what is the sentence, even if he got the maximum, it’s not enough to cover all that we went through.”

This article was first published on March 20, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – The mastermind of an Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT) cheating scheme was jailed for 18 months on Monday (March 20).

Salesman Lim Chun Chyi, who committed the offences between 2011 and 2014, faces 93 charges involving a total of $24,700.

During that time, he performed IPPT on behalf 72 operationally ready national servicemen (NSmen).

On Monday, he pleaded guilty to 20 of the charges and the total amount of involved was $8,000.

The remaining 73 charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

According to court documents, Lim and two accomplices – Nicholas Tan Kun Sung, 37 and Kho Puay Meng, 39 – entered various army camps to perform IPPT on behalf of their clients who were all NSmen.

Of the trio, Lim was the only one who interacted with the clients.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Ng Jean Ting said Lim would either actively solicit or receive requests from his clients via phone calls or WhatsApp messages.

He would then register for IPPT on his clients’ behalf.

DPP Ng said: “In return, depending on whether the accused obtained a gold, silver or pass with incentive award, the accused would receive the corresponding incentive payout disbursed by the Ministry of Defence to the NSmen as payment.”

For instance, if he obtained a gold award, he would receive $400.

Occasionally, Lim would ask certain clients to pay an additional $50 fee on top of the incentive award for engaging his services.

If the client agreed on his terms, he would ask for their personal details and use them to register online via the NS portal.

He would use his clients’ account and choose a suitable time slot to take the IPPT at one of the many army fitness centres islandwide.

He would then meet his clients to collect their identity documents such as their NRICs and driver’s licences, to facilitate his own entry into the centres.

At the scheduled slot, he would either go to the centres himself or engage his accomplices to do so.

Where Tan and Kho were involved, Lim would give them a cut of the incentive payout, said DPP Ng.

Lim was caught on Dec 6, 2014 after a fitness trainer at Khatib Camp recognised him as he went there a few weeks before.

DPP Ng said: “Upon performing the relevant searches of Lim’s IPPT records on the online system and of Lim’s belongings, it was discovered that Lim was taking the IPPT on behalf another NSman.”

The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Provost started its investigations soon after this and the matter was referred to the police in April 2015.

Lim’s clients were dealt with internally by the SAF and on Sept 13, last year, Kho was jailed for two months after pleading guilty to one charge of conspiring to cheat.

The case involving Tan is still pending.

For each count of cheating, Lim could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined.

This article was first published on March 20, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – In the evening of Oct 2, 2001, Ms Soh San was on her way home from work when she was robbed at knife-point and stabbed multiple times in a lift, later dying of her injuries.

The culprit was then 16-year-old Gunasegaran Ramasamy, who on Monday (Mar 20) was sentenced to 10 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane for robbery with hurt, more than 15 years after he committed the crime.

According to Shin Min Daily News, Gunasegaran had been living with his family at Bukit Batok Street 21 at the time of the incident. On the evening of Oct 2, 2001, his sister had given him $5 to buy instant noodles from a nearby shop.

Deciding that he would use the opportunity to look for targets to rob, he took a knife from the kitchen and wrapped it with newspaper, before hiding it at the back of his pants.

He eventually came across Ms Soh, who was on her way home, and decided to follow her into a lift at Block 172 Bukit Batok West Avenue 8.

After the lift door closed, Gunasegaran brandished the knife and demanded that she give him money.

Ms Soh screamed for help and put up a struggle, but was stabbed across her arm. She then took out three $10 notes, but this was not enough for Gunasegaran, who tried to snatch her purse.

When she resisted, he began stabbing her repeatedly on her arm and body. Bleeding profusely, she pleaded with him to stop, before collapsing when the lift doors opened. She died on the spot.

Gunasegaran then fled the scene by running down the stairs. When he arrived home, he washed the knife before puting it back into the knife holder in the kitchen.

An autopsy found that Ms Soh had suffered a total of nine stab wounds on her arm, body, chest and abdomen, Shin Min Daily News reported.

More than 12 years later, Gunasegaran turned himself in at the Jurong East Neighbourhood Police Centre on Nov 17, 2013, and admitted to robbing and stabbing the victim.

His lawyer, Criminal Legal Aid Scheme Advocate Ng Shi Yang, told the court that Gunasegaran felt a deep sense of remorse after the incident. According to reports, he also frequently heard the victim’s voice in his head, and would flash back to the incident whenever he came across the smell of blood.

seanyap@sph.com.sg

SINGAPORE – In the evening of Oct 2, 2001, Ms Soh San was on her way home from work when she was robbed at knife-point and stabbed multiple times in a lift, later dying of her injuries.

The culprit was then 16-year-old Gunasegaran Ramasamy, who on Monday (Mar 20) was sentenced to 10 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane for robbery with hurt, more than 15 years after he committed the crime.

According to Shin Min Daily News, Gunasegaran had been living with his family at Bukit Batok Street 21 at the time of the incident. On the evening of Oct 2, 2001, his sister had given him $5 to buy instant noodles from a nearby shop.

Deciding that he would use the opportunity to look for targets to rob, he took a knife from the kitchen and wrapped it with newspaper, before hiding it at the back of his pants.

He eventually came across Ms Soh, who was on her way home, and decided to follow her into a lift at Block 172 Bukit Batok West Avenue 8.

After the lift door closed, Gunasegaran brandished the knife and demanded that she give him money.

Ms Soh screamed for help and put up a struggle, but was stabbed across her arm. She then took out three $10 notes, but this was not enough for Gunasegaran, who tried to snatch her purse.

When she resisted, he began stabbing her repeatedly on her arm and body. Bleeding profusely, she pleaded with him to stop, before collapsing when the lift doors opened. She died on the spot.

Gunasegaran then fled the scene by running down the stairs. When he arrived home, he washed the knife before puting it back into the knife holder in the kitchen.

An autopsy found that Ms Soh had suffered a total of nine stab wounds on her arm, body, chest and abdomen, Shin Min Daily News reported.

More than 12 years later, Gunasegaran turned himself in at the Jurong East Neighbourhood Police Centre on Nov 17, 2013, and admitted to robbing and stabbing the victim.

His lawyer, Criminal Legal Aid Scheme Advocate Ng Shi Yang, told the court that the accused felt a deep sense of remorse after the incident following the incident.

According to reports, Gunasegaran also frequently heard the victim’s voice in his head, and would flash back to the incident whenever he came across the smell of blood.

seanyap@sph.com.sg