SINGAPORE, March 25 — He would seize the chance to grope his sister-in-law when she slept on the couch in the living room, once slipping his hand under her shirt to do so.
For molesting her at least three times, the 28-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to a year and two months’ jail today.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of outrage of modesty, with two other such charges taken into consideration for sentencing.
He cannot be named due to a court order to protect the identity of his wife’s sister, who is three years his junior.
The court heard that all of them have lived in the same flat since 2017. The victim slept on the living room couch if her grandparents stayed overnight.
The man first molested her sometime in July 2019 after getting up at 6.30am for work. He walked past her sleeping on the couch and touched her breast over her shirt once before leaving for work.
About two months later on September 22, he arrived home from work at about 4am and noticed her asleep on the couch once more.
When he molested her and she did not wake up, he retreated to the bedroom he shared with his wife, before going back to the couch and touching her again.
She still remained asleep and he went back to his bedroom. Emboldened, he returned, hovered over for about three minutes and leaned over multiple times, then slid his hand into her shirt to molest her.
He quickly retreated when she woke up this time.
Later that afternoon, she managed to access the contents of the closed-circuit television camera in the living room and realised what had been happening.
She then called her parents, who lived in the same flat, and told them she did not dare to return home without them.
She also lodged a police report at Choa Chu Kang Neighbourhood Police Centre.
Man has heart problems, says lawyer
The prosecution sought at least 16 months’ jail while the man’s lawyer Vas Kumar asked for nine months instead.
In mitigation, Kumar said that his client has serious heart problems from a birth defect and requires regular medical consultations.
“He could drop dead anytime,” the lawyer added.
The offences were also not premeditated and he had come clean to the authorities, Kumar argued.
In sentencing the man, District Judge Marvin Bay noted the high degree of sexual exploitation, adding that there was “considerable premeditation” and a “degree of escalation here with the first two acts being committed over clothing”.
“The accused had, after all, been her brother-in-law, and she would have presumed herself to be safe in his house,” said the judge.
For each charge, the man could have been jailed up to two years, fined, caned, or received any combination of the three. — TODAY
