Rapist forced himself on 13-year-old deaf and mute girl
David Sun
The Straits Times
Aug 5, 2026
While his pregnant wife was out running errands, a man raped a deaf and mute 13-year-old girl.
The man, now 24, was sentenced to a jail term of 12 years and nine months, as well as 12 strokes of the cane, on Aug 5.
He pleaded guilty to rape and a charge of being absent without leave from his national service duties with the Singapore Civil Defence Force for over a year.
Another two molest charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.
He cannot be named due to a gag order on the identities of both the man and victim.
The incident happened in November 2024, when the man was living in a two-room rental flat with his wife. She was then about five months into her pregnancy.
The court heard that the man and his wife knew the victim and her family. His wife was the goddaughter of the victim’s mother, while he was a secondary schoolmate of the victim’s older brother.
The victim, who called him “uncle”, initially found him “nice, kind and funny”. They would communicate through very basic sign language and gestures, and by messages on their phones.
On Nov 2, 2024, the victim’s mother had to attend an event and told the girl to spend the night at the man’s flat.
The night passed uneventfully, but the next morning, the wife left the flat at around 9am to run errands and left the girl and the man alone.
The girl was initially at the dining table when the man told her to accompany him to the bedroom. He then said he wanted to have sex with her, but she communicated that she did not want to.
The man continued to press her by typing messages on her phone. He told her that she “must try first” and that it would be “only one time”.
He offered to pay her for sex, saying he would give her money after the act. The girl continued to reject him.
When he tried to touch her thigh, she pushed him away. He then pulled her by the hand towards the bed.
During that episode, the girl was messaging the man’s wife for help, texting her “help me” and telling her that the man was trying to force her to have sex.
It was not mentioned if the wife responded to her messages.
The man then forced himself on the girl, and raped her. The girl struggled but he was too strong.
He stopped only when he heard his wife unlocking the door to the flat.
The wife told the man about the messages the girl had sent her. He lied and said the girl had become angry after his wife left, and had taken a knife from the kitchen “to do something”.
He said that while his wife was out, he spent time in the bedroom.
The victim did not tell the wife about the rape as she did not want to break up the couple.
The assault was uncovered after the girl visited some relatives later that night and they noticed a love bite.
When they asked her about it, she used her phone to show them a photo of the man. She wanted to convey the message that he was the one who did it to her.
The police were called and the man was arrested for rape that same day.
The court heard that the man underwent reformative training while serving his national service.
He was to report back to continue his national service duties from Oct 23, 2023, but did not do so. In total, he was absent without leave for over a year until he was arrested for the rape.
The prosecution said the man’s actions were a deplorable abuse of trust, saying he had his way with the girl by force, overpowering her attempts to struggle and escape.
For rape, the man could have been jailed for up to 20 years.
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