‘Monster’ husband jailed for sex abuse

SINGAPORE: A Singaporean man described as a “monster” by prosecutors was sentenced to 25and-a-half years in jail yesterday for forcing his wife into prostitution and sexually abusing their six-year-old daughter and a niece. The sentence was more than the 22 years sought by state prosecutors because of the gravity of the offences, including punching his wife to coerce her into prostitution so they could provide for their infant son.

A High Court judge also sentenced the unemployed man, who cannot be named due to a courtissued gag order, to 24 strokes of the cane and a fine of Sg$12,000 ($8,845). “The 27-year-old accused is a monster,” Deputy Public Prosecutor Eunice Lau said in court. “The sordid sexual depravity of his transgressions is unprecedented and involves him sexually exploiting the three most vulnerable women in his life - whom he had every responsibility to protect,” Lau said, naming the wife, their daughter and his wife’s 13-year-old niece.

The man forced his wife to advertise her sexual services online using physical and emotional violence “to ensure that she fulfilled a daily quota of customers,” Lau added. He also coerced her into secretly filming herself having sex with customers, the prosecutor said. The court heard that the man sexually abused his six-year-old daughter and molested his wife’s teenage niece. Over a period of three months in 2016, the man’s wife provided sexual services to more than a hundred male clients, earning close to Sg$11,000 which she gave to him. — AFP