SINGAPORE – He was 12 in 2018 when he started sexually abusing his sister who was around 10 at the time. In 2019, the offender, now 18, sexually penetrated the girl in the living room of their home.

He later turned his attention to another sister, who is younger than the first victim, and molested her on three occasions between 2020 and 2021.

On March 6, the youth, who cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the girls’ identities, was ordered to undergo reformative training for at least a year.

He pleaded guilty to one count each of sexually penetrating the older girl and molesting their younger sibling. Five other charges involving both girls were considered during sentencing.

Young offenders ordered to undergo reformative training are detained in a centre to observe a strict regimen that can include foot drills and counselling. 

At the time of the offences, he and his two sisters slept on mattresses in the living room of their home which they shared with their mother.

He targeted the older girl in 2018 while she was sleeping.

Deputy public prosecutors R. Arvindren and Etsuko Lim stated in court documents: “Whenever (she) woke up during these sexual assaults, the accused would pretend to have touched her in an innocent bid to wake her up.”

He sexually penetrated the girl in 2019, and about two weeks later, their mother caught him touching his sister in a sexual manner.

The mother scolded him and installed a closed-circuit television camera in the living room to monitor his behaviour at night.

Instead of stopping, he started molesting the younger girl in 2020 when she was 11.

This second victim was asleep in the living room on Aug 27, 2021, when he molested her. She tried to push him away with her elbow when she woke up, but he continued groping her.

His offences came to light that year when the older girl told her boyfriend about her ordeal. She lodged a police report on Aug 31, 2021, and officers arrested the offender that evening.

In earlier proceedings, the prosecutors urged the court to not call for a report to assess his suitability for probation.

Instead, they asked Deputy Principal District Judge Kessler Soh to call for a reformative training suitability report.

They added: “Probation is not a realistic sentencing option as it would not give due effect to the principle of deterrence, which must feature prominently in this case.

“The accused’s offending was far from an isolated episode. He sexually assaulted his younger sisters multiple times.”

Bail was set at $30,000 on March 6, and he is expected to surrender at the State Courts on April 26 to begin serving his sentence.