SINGAPORE — A drug offender who was high on drugs when he committed an indecent act with his then-eight-year-old stepson was jailed for 12 months on Wednesday (June 30).

The man, 39, who cannot be named due to a court order protecting the identity of the victim, now aged 11, pleaded guilty to one charge under the Children and Young Persons Act.

The court heard that the child’s biological mother, who is 33, called the police on her husband on May 27 last year while he was already serving a jail term for drug offences. Two days before her call, she had found out about the sexual abuse from the boy, who is the oldest of her five children.

She had married the man in 2017 and the seven of them used to live together.

On May 25 last year, the boy revealed to her that in May 2019, his stepfather had shown him a pornographic video involving two men.

Upon further probing, the boy told his mother that the stepfather had also touched him on his private parts that day.

Police investigations later revealed that the boy was sleeping in the bedroom with two of his siblings when his stepfather woke him up to show him the video.

The stepfather paused the video halfway, removed the child’s shorts and started rubbing him on his private parts.

He also grabbed the child’s hand and instructed the boy to rub his own genitals. The boy declined, saying that he did not want to, and the man left the bedroom.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Colin Ng said that the accused had stated during the course of investigations that he was “high on drugs” when committing these acts.

In seeking a jail term of at least one year, he noted that the accused had committed “a blatant and egregious breach of trust”.

He argued that the courts would be “grievously remiss” if they did not send an unequivocal and uncompromising message to all would-be sex offenders that abusing a relationship or a position of authority to gratify sexual impulses will be met with the harshest penal consequences.

The man could have been jailed up to five years or fined up to S$10,000, or punished with both for the offence.