He got 34 years and a maximum of 24 strokes. But I can't
say that criminal justice was not done in his case. It most definitely was, and
redemption for him took a backseat that day when he was sentenced.
In all my writings, I am always biased towards redeeming
a man.
I believe every man deserves a chance, if
not multiple chances. And if it takes a village to raise a kid, then it takes a
lifetime for some to find redemption.
But this morning, this bias was sorely
challenged by a man's most incomprehensible crime. And the prosecution calls it
"one of the most heinous cases which we have ever seen."
If I had judged him, and therefore stood to
be judged myself, then so be it.
You have to see the abuse from the eye of
the child.
She was only seven when she had to put with
his regular sexual abuses. He was her mother's lover. She called him "shu
shu".
She told her mother about the molest, but
she reprimanded her and refused to intervene.
She therefore realised it was futile
because the only one who could protect her, not only did nothing, but
disbelieved her.
After he got married to another woman (who
bore him a son), he even invited the girl and her mother to live with his new
family.
From that point, the girl's mother became
his mistress.
All this time, he was jobless and relied on
the two women in his life to support him. His wife had to work and his mistress
gave him $350 a month for household expenses.
After they moved in, his molest turned into
rape. He also forced her to perform oral sex on him. It reports that he did it
in broad daylight while others were at home.
Alas, the girl became "so conditioned
to his abuse that she automatically took off her clothes when he summoned her.
She was then only below ten years old."
And because he frequently assaulted his
wife and her mother when he was drunk and even hit the girl when she tried to
protect her mother, the girl feared angering him. He even went berserk when she
befriended her male classmates.
But that was not even the half of it.
The girl only learned that what her shu shu
did was wrong when she was Primary 5 and attended sex education classes.
At 13, she mustered the courage to seek
help, but not from her own mother.
She instead went to the man's wife and she
referred her to a social worker.
A police report was lodged in June 2016. By
that time, the man's wife had already divorced him and moved out with her son.
That's not the end of it.
When the man, 47, heard that he was a
wanted man, the girl's mother gave him $800, and he spent four days evading
arrest before surrendering himself to the police.
When he was arrested, and charged for
statutory rape, his first response was to accuse the girl. He said she seduced
and flirted with him.
DPP Khoo said that the man had
"wrecked the girl's life and caused a rift between her and her
mother."
Now, it reports that the girl, 15, is
living with with her maternal grandmother.
Expectedly, she confessed that she felt
very insecure about herself and "worries about being judged by
others."
She said to the prosecution that "she
misses her mother."
Lesson...?
While it is not possible to contact the
girl, as her privacy should always be guarded and protected, I would like to
tell her that there is absolutely nothing wrong with her.
I want to tell her that no one judges her.
No one with a conscience should ever judge her.
I wish so much for her to face the world
with restored confidence to know that there are people out there who love her
truly, treasure her deeply and wish only to see her recover, to become
stronger.
The society still cares - nevertheless.
Amidst the cruelty and pain, there are
people around who stand for justice, sacrifice for others and protect with
love.
I also want to tell her that she is a brave
soul; much braver than I am. She is a hero in my eyes.
I would love to tell her that she is always
pure and innocent and her struggles and overcoming are inspiring.
Her courage, her innocence, her love for
her mother (after what she had gone through), her strength to move on are
simply empowering.
As a father myself, I want her to know that
her life is precious, full of potential and her future awaits to fill it with
her dreams, hope and joy.
Every father wishes his daughter would
eventually marry to the love of her life, to a protective, reliable and
trustworthy husband. And I wish the same for her - no less.
More importantly, I wish she will grow up
to find trust and hope again and start her family with children of her own to
enjoy, guide and protect.
Most of all, I pray she would eventually
find peace and closure in this tumultuous world she is living in.
In every corner and bend, life will still
be challenging, sometimes trying, and at times, soul-wrenching.
But, I pray that she will be surrounded by
love, hope and faith and will move forward to grow in resilience - never giving
up and never giving in.
And I also pray that her past
would never hold her back from living in the present with courage and strength,
and from living her future with hope and love. Cheerz.
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