Tag: sexual abuse

Student Care Centre Guardian Jailed 10 years For Sexual Assault On 8 Boys

“Uncle Wong” came so highly recommended – by his pastor, no less – that he was hired by a student care centre on the spot.

He worked as a guardian at the centre, located at a primary school, for three years, and was popular with the students. He helped the boys with their homework and bought them sweets.

He also molested them.

The disgraced guardian was sentenced to 10 years’ jail on Wednesday (Feb 22) after a 14-day trial. He was found guilty of 13 counts of sexual assault involving eight boys aged between eight and 11. The charges include 11 for molest, and two for giving and receiving oral sex from an 11-year-old boy.

The 66-year-old man had sexually abused the boys for three years, with his colleagues and his pastor none the wiser.

“Instead of guarding and protecting them, you took advantage of them,” District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim said, calling the man a “predator”.

The abuse came to light by chance. On Sep 13, 2013, two students and another guardian witnessed Wong slipping his hand under the table to touch a 10-year-old boy’s penis.

The guardian reported him to the centre’s supervisor, who reported him to the human resources manager, and a decision was made to suspend Wong immediately.

That night, the HR manager sent him a text message: “I received a very serious complaint about you today … I want you to meet me in church on Monday. You will be under immediate suspension from work … an investigation (will be) carried out.”

Wong responded more than an hour later: “Can’t … figure out what went wrong or (what) the complaint is about, so will just have to assure my heart before God.”

Then he called three of his victims to tell them the student care centre was investigating him, and not to tell anyone he had molested them. This showed he had “absolutely no remorse”, Judge Hamidah said.

Three days later, the HR manager visited the centre to speak to three boys who claimed they had been molested by Wong. She quickly realised there were many more victims involved, and made a police report the same day.

At his trial, the woman testified she hired Wong, who worked at the centre from January 2011 until September 2013, without interviewing him first. His was “a unique case”, she said, because he had come “recommended by his pastor, (who said) he was good with children and youths”.

Even his victims, who testified against him, had nothing damning to say.

One victim said Wong was a “caring teacher” who took the boys to church and bought them “ice pops and sweets”. Another victim said he was “friendly, kind and very patient” when helping the boys with their homework.

The man plans to appeal his conviction and sentence, his lawyer said. He is out on bail – set at S$100,000 – pending the hearing of his appeal.

A further eight charges against him, which involved more victims, were withdrawn.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

February 22, 2017
Man Sentenced To 45 Months Jail For Sexually Abusing Stepdaughter When She Was 6

She was just six years old when her stepfather began sexually abusing her.

He even preyed on the girl on the night his wife was in hospital giving birth to their first daughter.

Out of love for him and not wanting her mother and half-sisters to hate her, the girl kept quiet for about eight years.

But this came at a cost to her own emotional and psychological state. She became deeply affected and would inflict injuries on herself.

She eventually confided in a school counsellor as she did not want her stepfather to perform the same sordid acts on her half-sisters.

These details were revealed in the grounds of decision by District Judge Lee-Khoo Poh Choo, who sentenced the stepfather to 45 months’ jailon seven charges of sexual exploitation on Wednesday.

The accused is now in his 50s and his trial lasted two years. He is appealing against his conviction and sentence.

The judge said in her grounds of decision that the accused got to know the girl’s mother in 1998. They were married in 2002.

The couple cannot be named to protect the girl’s identity.

Judge Lee-Khoo said that the girl, now 21, had testified during the trial that her stepfather first had sex with her when she was six years old.

This continued for about six years until she was in Primary 6, when they stopped for fear she would get pregnant.

It was during this period that the stepfather would also perform obscene acts on her.

Sometime between Sept 7 and 8, 2005, the then 11-year-old girl was asleep in her home when her stepfather touched her private parts.

The girl’s mother was in hospital giving birth, noted the judge.

The accused would repeat the act on the girl six more times until March 2010, when the girl was 14.

She testified he would sometimes tell her he was going to touch her when he picked her up after school in his lorry.

AFRAID

She kept mum about the abuse because she was afraid her mother and half-sisters would turn on her and that no one would believe her.

She shared what had happened with a school counsellor she had been seeing due to her poor grades.

It was later discovered the girl had harmed herself because she had physical urges as a result of the abuse, the judge said.

The girl underwent counselling and therapy for two years – delaying the trial till 2014, the judge said.

In court, the stepfather, who worked as a construction site project supervisor, had claimed that his stepdaughter lied about the abuse as she was angry at him for punishing her for her high phone bill.

But Judge Lee-Khoo said in her grounds of decision that she found the girl forthright, coherent and credible.

She added that the girl had nothing to gain and instead, lost the love and warmth of her family.

After finding the stepfather guilty, the judge said: “His depraved, immoral acts left their marks on the young and vulnerable victim forever.

“He had destroyed the warm, close-knit family life that the victim had with her mother and half-sisters.”

His depraved, immoral acts left their marks on the young and vulnerable victim forever.

– District Judge Lee-Khoo Poh Choo on the stepdad

Source: www.tnp.sg

November 27, 2016
52 Year Old Family Friend Sexually Abuses 3 Young Teenaged Brothers

They fully trusted him with their three sons as he was then working in the boys’ school.

Instead of paying back their trust, the family friend abused the boys, destroying their lives by robbing them of their innocence and dignity.

The man, now 52, was working as a school operations support assistant in a primary school in the western part of Singapore when he sexually abused all three youngsters between 2009 and February 2013.

On one occasion, he even performed obscene acts on the two younger boys while they were in the same room.

Yesterday, the man, who started out in the primary school as a security guard, pleaded guilty in court to three counts of committing indecent acts on the boys and two counts of sexual penetration.

Twenty-nine other charges for similar offences and two offences under the Films Act involving an uncertified film and five obscene ones will be taken into consideration during sentencing.

He cannot be named to protect his victims’ identities.

We will instead refer to the oldest boy as Ben, the middle one as Carl and the youngest brother as Dennis.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Winston Man said Ben was just 11 when the man befriended him in 2009. The boy trusted him as he was a staff member at his school.

At first, the man would accompany him home from school.

After that, he started to take him to the zoo and to various shopping centres.

The man later got close to the boy’s family and befriended his younger brothers.

DPP Man said he even bought his victims gifts such as shoes and clothes.

The man focused most of his attention on Carl as he thought the boy’s parents neglected him. He also felt that Carl was more compliant than his brothers.

GRATEFUL

DPP Man said: “The victims’ parents entrusted their children to the accused on the many occasions he took them for outings and meals as they thought that he was genuinely concerned for their welfare.”

He added that before the offences came to light, the boys’ parents were grateful for the man’s help in caring for their children as they worked very long hours.

The man, who is represented by lawyer S. K. Kumar, showed his true colours in late 2009 when he took Ben to a staircase landing at Block 406, Bukit Batok West Avenue 4, and performed an indecent act on him.

Later that year, he took Ben to a second-storey staircase landing in the same block of flats.

By then, the boy knew he was about to be sexually abused, but he followed him out of fear.

While there, the man performed oral sex on him.

The court heard that he took Carl on an outing to Hong Kah North Community Club on December 2012.

He asked Carl to accompany him to a male toilet and forced the boy to perform oral sex on him.

About two months later, the man took Carl, who was 13, and Dennis, then 12, to his flat in the western part of Singapore.

He lured the boys into a bedroom before performing indecent acts on them on a bed.

The man’s perversions only came to light after he sent the children’s mother a text message on March 16, 2013, asking if Carl could join him at Boon Lay Community Centre.

He told her he wanted to take the boy out shopping for school shoes.

Carl kept quiet when she showed him the message.

Dennis, who was nearby, urged his brother to tell their mother about his ordeal.

The two boys told their shocked mother about what the man had done to them.

Ben told her about his own experiences when he came home later that day.

The boys’ parents made a police report four days later and officers arrested the man on March 22, 2013.

The case has been adjourned to Oct 4.

For each count of committing an indecent act on a boy, the man could be jailed up to five years and fined up to $10,000.

For forcing a boy to perform oral sex on him, he could be jailed up to 20 years and fined. The man cannot be caned as he is above 50 years old.

Source: www.tnp.sg

September 30, 2016
Man Charged For Sexually Abusing Niece Who Was Then Only 12 Years Old

A construction firm supervisor appeared in the High Court yesterday accused of sexually abusing his young niece, who had looked up to him as a “father figure”.

The 51-year-old Malaysian faces a total of six charges for sexual acts with the victim on five occasions from 2005 – when she was just 12 years old – to 2008.

They include one count of rape, two counts of oral sex, one count of sexual exploitation of a child, one count of outrage of modesty and one count of sexual assault of a minor.

The man, represented by Mr N. Kanagavijayan, has admitted to the charge of sexual assault, committed in 2008 when the girl was 15. However, he is disputing the other five charges, including the most serious one of rape, which carries up to 20 years’ jail and caning or a fine.

A seven-day trial started in the High Court yesterday.

The alleged victim is now 23 years old. A probation officer who accompanied her to report the offences is among the six prosecution witnesses.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ong Luan Tze said in the prosecution’s opening address that the victim regarded the accused, her maternal aunt’s common law husband, as a “father figure” after her biological father died in 2003.

The accused abused his position in the victim’s life to sexually groom her and performed sexual acts with her without her consent, the DPP contended.

On one occasion in 2005, he sexually abused her while helping her to change her clothes to visit her mother in hospital.

On another occasion, he woke her up and slipped his hand into her shorts.

The trial continues.

Source: http://news.asiaone.com

August 27, 2015
10 Catholic Priests In Spain Charged Over Sexual Abuse Of Teenage Altar Boy

A Spanish judge charged 10 Catholic priests over the alleged sexual abuse of a teenage altar boy, court papers showed Wednesday, in a case in which Pope Francis intervened.

Their accuser, now aged 25, says he was raped and made to perform sex acts with priests at a villa with a swimming pool, according to a written ruling by the judge in the southern city of Granada.

It is the latest in a series of paedophilia scandals involving members of the Catholic Church, and the biggest such legal case known so far in Spain.

Judge Antonio Moreno formally accused 10 priests and two lay people of sexually abusing the boy or being complicit in such acts from 2004 to 2007.

The victim alleges “continuous sexual abuse by a group of priests of the diocese of Granada, from 2004 when he was 14 to 2007 when he was 17.”

The young man said he became an altar boy at the age of seven at the church presided by the leader of the group and was later invited to houses run by the priests.

The lead priest made the boy give him massages, which led to a series of acts of sexual abuse, the ruling said.

The victim said the group’s leader told him he had a promising career as a priest ahead of him and chided him for resisting, according to the ruling. It said the priest described himself as being like a father to the boy.

The young man, identified in the ruling as a member of the Catholic institution Opus Dei, now suffers anxiety and is undergoing psychological treatment, it said.

It is the most serious such case ever in Spain “in terms of the numbers of abusers and the system of abuse,” said Jose Manuel Vidal, head of religious news website Religion Digital, which first reported the affair.

“They set up a kind of sect within the church itself.”

– Pope steps in –

The case was opened in early November and the judge had ordered investigations to be kept secret until he issued the ruling indicting the suspects. He has yet to rule whether some of the alleged deeds happened too long ago to be tried.

Pope Francis revealed after the case was launched that he had ordered a Church investigation when the unidentified man wrote a letter telling him of the abuse.

“I called the person and I told him, ‘Go to the bishop tomorrow,’ and then I wrote to the bishop and told him to start an investigation,” Francis told reporters on November 25.

The Argentine pontiff said the case cause him “very great pain, but the truth is the truth and we should not hide it.”

At least one other person now aged 44 has also accused one of the priests of abuse in the early 1990s.

The Archdiocese of Granada said in mid-November that it had suspended a number of priests pending the court probe.

The Archbishop of Granada Francisco Javier Martinez and several other priests prostrated themselves on the floor of the city’s cathedral during a mass in November in a gesture of apology to victims of abuse.

Pope Francis has taken a tough stance on clerical child abuse since taking over in 2013 from Benedict XVI.

But a victims’ support group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the pope should be tougher.

“The judge in the case has made it clear that covering up child rape is a despicable crime,” it said in a statement on Wednesday reacting to the Granada ruling.

“Pope Francis should send the message that this behaviour is not going to be tolerated in his Church by immediately firing Granada’s Archbishop.”

Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

January 30, 2015