SINGAPORE - A man molested the daughter of family friends in 2016 when she was nine years old, and then tried to molest the girl three years later by attempting to slip his hand into the back of her pants.

The girl, who is now 14 years old, did not realise what he did was wrong until she attended sex education class in 2018.

The offences came to light in 2019 when she confided in a friend after the man asked a lewd question about her younger sister, now 12. The victim had feared that the man would prey on the younger girl as well.

The offender, now 59, cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the victim's identity.

On Tuesday (May 31), Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Zu Zhao urged Principal District Judge Victor Yeo to sentence the man to between 18 and 24 months in jail for molesting the girl.

Judge Yeo convicted the man in April to one count each of molestation and attempted molestation after a trial.

The prosecutor also asked for the offender to be given an additional six weeks' jail in lieu of three strokes of the cane. This is because the man cannot be caned as he is over 50 years old.

For the attempted molestation charge, DPP Lee urged the court to sentence the man to a short jail term.

He said: "(The offender) took advantage of his position to abuse the victim when she was very young and exceptionally vulnerable, such that for the (molestation) charge, she was not even aware that he had violated her until she attended sex education class in school two years later."

Defence lawyer Kalaithasan Karuppaya, however, asked for the man to be given a year's jail in total, stressing that his client did not use force on the girl.

In his submissions, DPP Lee said that the offender and his wife were close friends of the victim's parents, adding: "The accused has known the victim since she was around three years old and was especially close to her."

He added that the offender would buy presents for the victim on her birthdays and when she did well for her examinations.

The victim had also felt closer to the man than she was to her own parents, said the DPP.

The court heard that in 2016, the victim, who was then a Primary 3 pupil, and her younger sister were having tuition at the man's flat when hives broke out on the older girl's arm.

DPP Lee said that the man's wife, who was tutoring the girls, then offered to apply some powder on the victim's skin.

The prosecutor added that the pair went into a bedroom and met the man who said that he would apply powder on the girl.

He molested the girl after his wife left the room.

DPP Lee told the court: "At the time, the victim did not realise what the accused did was wrong, and it was only when she attended sex education class in Primary 5 that she realised what the accused did was a 'bad touch'.

"This led to her breaking down in class, but she did not tell anyone about what had happened because a part of her did not want to believe that it happened."

The court heard that the girl was 12 years old when she went to the man's home in September 2019 for tuition.

He then tried to molest her but she "swept or slapped" his hand away.

The prosecutor told Judge Yeo that the man was sending the victim home in his car when he asked a lewd question about the girl's younger sister.

The DPP said: "As the victim feared that her sister would also fall prey to the accused, she decided to talk to her friend about this, and then eventually disclosed what happened between the accused and her to (a) school counsellor on Sept 18, 2019.

"The victim did not tell her family about what happened all this while because she was afraid that they would not believe her and would choose to believe the accused instead."

The counsellor told some employees of the school about what had happened and the police were alerted soon after.

The offender will be sentenced on July 12.

For molesting a child below 14 years old, an offender can be jailed for up to five years and fined or caned. The man cannot be caned due to his age.