Father jailed for sex with daughter

Neo Tsim

A judge blasted a 48-year-old construction worker for using his daughter as a tool to satisfy his sexual needs and ruining the girl's childhood.

He jailed the worker for seven years yesterday for sexually assaulting the girl more than 100 times since she was three.

The daughter, identified as X in court, was later diagnosed with depression and said her father "HZ" caused her pain when sexually assaulting her, and she wanted to cut off his penis.

The high court earlier heard the sexual offenses were committed by the father between August 2014 and January 2019.

HZ had pleaded guilty to 10 counts of indecent assault, two counts of indecent conduct toward a child under 16, one count of attempted indecent assault and two counts of child abuse.

In passing sentence, judge Joseph Yau Chi-lap said HZ had a duty to protect X and provide her with a safe environment so that she could grow up and live without worrying about anything.

Instead of fulfilling his duty as a father, HZ abused X's trust and treated her as a tool only to satisfy his sexual needs.

"You've ruined her childhood completely," Yau said.

The judge also referred to X's trauma report that said HZ's selfish crime will permanently scar X, and the girl, now 14 years old, will have to live under the shadow for the rest of her life.

Although HZ showed remorse in his mitigation letter, it was not comparable to the harm he had wreaked upon X, he said.

Yau said he can easily imagine how horrified and helpless X felt when her father hurt her while she was alone with him at home.

HZ's actions seriously violated his integrity as a father as X was only aged three to five at the time, and was greatly dependent on her father.

Before handing down HZ's punishment, Yau said the court must consider the deterrent effect of the sentence and how much society detests such cases.

Although HZ had no criminal record and was otherwise of good character, these factors had limited use in appeals for mitigation in his sentencing.

After giving HZ a discount for his guilty plea, Yau sentenced him to seven years' imprisonment.

The case came to light when the 11-year-old X resisted and kicked her father away in 2019.

She subsequently told her mother that she was terrified and had suicidal thoughts, leading to the parents divorcing.

The mother also reported the abuse to the police, and X told officers she had been sexually assaulted by HZ since she was three.

HZ was arrested in October that year. Under police caution, HZ admitted having intimate physical contact with X when they were both naked, but insisted he did not have sex with X.