SINGAPORE, July 20 — The girl was in Primary 5 when her uncle, who was living with her and her family, sexually abused her twice in a year.

Then when she was a teen four years later, he molested her twice, which led her to confide in her form teacher about what he did to her.

The uncle, who is now 62, was sentenced to 10 years and nine months’ jail yesterday for what District Judge Mathew Joseph called “utterly reprehensible” acts.

He cannot be punished by caning as he is above 50 years old.

The former operation theatre technician, who cannot be named to protect the victim’s identity, pleaded guilty to two charges of assaulting a minor with the intent to outrage her modesty and one charge of attempted sexual assault by penetration of a minor. Five other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that the uncle had moved into the victim’s home in Marine Terrace with his daughter after his wife died of cancer.

The victim was then two years old. He lived there with the victim’s parents and grandmother.

Deputy public prosecutor Asoka Markandu told the court that the victim, now 17 years old, was taught to call the man ayah (“father” in Malay) from a very young age.

One afternoon in early 2012, he summoned the girl into the storeroom, where he had been given a small sleeping area.

The entrance of the storeroom was covered by a curtain.

He told her to watch a television show while she sat between his legs on the bed. That was when he put his hands under her clothes and molested her for a few minutes.

“The victim recalled feeling shocked, uncomfortable and confused by the events. She did not share the incident with anyone,” Asoka said.

Later in the middle of the year, he molested her again under similar circumstances, and also tried to sodomise her, which lasted for a few minutes.

The assaults stopped between 2013 and 2015, but the victim said that he molested her twice more in 2016.

Feeling like she was no longer safe in her own home, she decided to inform her form teacher, who then referred her to the school counsellor.

The victim’s father lodged a police report after he received a call from her school.

Asoka noted the 46-year age gap between the victim and her uncle, who began abusing her when he was 57: “The victim was a minor… when he first sexually assaulted her. The harm caused to her psychologically cannot be quantified. She is scarred for life.”

During sentencing, Joseph rapped the man for his “highly intrusive” acts.

“For the young victim, that house was transformed into a house of terror,” he said. “She called you ‘ayah’ but you shamelessly, audaciously abused her trust and the trust of the family, who offered you shelter and safety. But this young child received no safety from you. You terrorised her.”

The district judge added that the man could have committed more offences had the victim not summoned her courage to tell someone.

In mitigation, the man, who was not represented by a lawyer, said through a translator that he “did this despicable thing” and had “nowhere to put my face”.

For sexual assault of a minor, he could have been jailed up to five years, fined and caned.

For sexual penetration of a minor, he could have been jailed up to 20 years and given up to 12 strokes of the cane. — TODAY