Paedophile gripped 8-year-old girl’s hand during obscene act in public, gets jail and caning

SINGAPORE: A paedophile spotted two sisters aged eight and five playing in their flat on Oct 17, 2022, and peeped inside.
Thinking the 22-year-old sexual offender was a deliveryman, the older sister followed him outside and saw him engage in an obscene act.
The paedophile then gripped the eight-year-old girl’s hand and continued his obscene act, running away only when the girl managed to break free at the sound of her sister calling for her.
When the police raided Lim Kai Heng’s home, they found adult and child pornography on his devices, along with photos of young children in swimming costumes at public swimming pools.
Of the 306 videos and 313 images, 11 videos and 125 photos showed children in sexual or offensive depictions.
Lim was sentenced to 30 months’ jail and four strokes of the cane – two each for outraging the girl’s modesty and possessing child abuse material.
He also pleaded guilty to an unrelated rash act charge of throwing a plastic cup filled with water from the fifth floor to the ground floor, striking a passer-by on the neck in August 2022.
In a judgment made available on Thursday (Sep 26), Principal District Judge Jill Tan said a key issue in this case was whether caning should be given to an offender who outraged the modesty of a child, even though he did not touch her private parts.
Another key issue was whether caning was warranted for possessing child abuse material because some of the content depicted “cruelty and physical abuse”.
“On the facts of this case, I answered these questions in the affirmative,” said Judge Tan.
Lim, who is now 24, had no prior convictions. He was assessed by the Institute of Mental Health to have paedophilia, which was “ego-dystonic” for him. This means he experienced distress about his sexual preference.
In her victim impact statement, the eight-year-old girl said she had difficulty sleeping since the incident and often cried herself to sleep.
She had nightmares that Lim was doing the act to her again, and she would wake up crying. Since the incident, she is also afraid of strange men and no longer trusts men except her father and relatives.
The girl’s mother confirmed her nightmares and difficulty sleeping. She said her daughter needed to go for counselling and has become quieter than she used to be.
The prosecution called for 33 to 36 months’ jail and six strokes of the cane, while defence lawyer Raphael Louis had sought 10 months and three weeks’ jail.
Mr Louis argued that no caning should be given as his client “did not intrude into the victim’s private parts”.
He said his client sought treatment for paedophilia after the offence, cooperated with investigations and was “extremely ashamed and remorseful”.
The lawyer said the outcome of the case would have “a detrimental effect on his future employment prospects”.
In her analysis, Judge Tan said that the psychological harm in terms of the victim’s lasting trauma cannot be understated.
“Counsel for the accused submitted that there was no clinical diagnosis of the victim’s condition.
“Nevertheless, based on her victim impact statement and that of her mother’s, this incident clearly scarred her,” said the judge.
“She even asked her mother why God chose her to be the victim of such an offence – surely a question a child should never have to encounter.
“It was fortuitous that the victim’s mother had the wisdom to frame the incident in a positive light and explain it to the child in terms of her role in helping to catch an offender, which perspective it can only be hoped the victim will come to understand in time.”
Judge Tan said there was an escalation in Lim’s offending conduct, showing he did pose a threat to the safety of children he might encounter.
“In the circumstances, my view was that this case was an appropriate one to impose caning in addition to the imprisonment term, as a deterrent,” she added.
“However, since he was a first offender in this regard, my view was that two strokes (for the outrage of modesty charge), instead of the three sought by the prosecution, would be sufficient.”
She also agreed that caning should be imposed for the child abuse material, as two videos involved “cruelty and physical abuse”.
The faces of some children could also be seen in the videos and images, and the youngest depicted in the child abuse material was four.
“While the sentence would certainly adversely affect the accused’s future prospects, my view was that this was a necessary result of his punishment for his acts, and could not be said to be crushing,” concluded the judge.