A 44-year-old man was sentenced on Thursday (August 20) to 38 months jail and 5 strokes of the cane for taking advantage of his teenage stepdaughter while she was sleeping and molested her. He also secretly recorded her showering.
The man pleaded guilty to three counts of outrage of modesty and one count of recording her showering without consent.
Four other similar charges were taken into consideration.
Both the man and the victim cannot be named due to a gag order to protect her identity.
The court heard that the man was living in a flat with his son, the girl and her mother when the crimes were committed.
He had also been touching the girl when she was 11 years old, on the night of March 5, 2017.
The girl and her stepbrother had fallen asleep on their parents bed, where the man then laid down beside her and slid hishands under her shirt and underwear, molesting her.
She woke up upon being molested but was too shocked to move.
After the man retracted his hands, she got up from the bed and noticed him pretending to be asleep.
The girl then went back to her own bedroom.
The man molested the girl further on other occasions, including this year when she was sleeping.
The incidents happened on February 28 and March 8.
On both attempts, the victim came to and pretended to stir in her sleep which would make her stepfather leave the room.
On March 12, the man attempted to record her showering by positioning his mobile phone on top of the water heater in the toilet of the master bedroom, he then told the victims to shower quickly as he “wanted to do laundry”.
She initially refused but eventually went into the toilet, where she spotted the phone while showering and immediately wrapped herself up.
She later realised that the phone belonged to her stepfather and that it was on video recording mode, she then told her mother about what happened.
The mother’s friend then made a police report later that day.
The man pleaded for leniency, saying that his wife and kids are now living apart from him.
He faces jail of up to two years, fine and/or caned for each of his offences.