Dexter2020
Faithful Servant
SINGAPORE – A pastor of a church was in his office when he repeatedly molested a girl with a severe specific language impairment. The man started committing the offences between April 16, 2015 and April 15, 2016, when she was just 12 years old. He started giving her $20 weekly after this incident, the court heard. From then until 2019, he continued targeting the girl, performing acts including touching her chest and private parts. On April 6, the man pleaded guilty to a molestation charge. Two other similar charges will be considered during his sentencing. Details about the man and the church cannot be disclosed due to a gag order to protect the identity of the victim, whose condition is a developmental disorder that affects her ability to understand and use spoken and written language, despite no hearing or intellectual problems. Deputy Public Prosecutor ### Tai told the court that the girl’s mother had frequently sought advice from the man on family and spiritual matters. The victim was around 12 years old when she began accompanying her mother to church daily during her school holidays. The man later asked for the girl to help him with paperwork and administrative duties in his office. He molested the girl for the first time by touching her chest over her clothes. She was in his office on another occasion when he slipped his hand underneath her top and touched her bare skin. A few weeks later, the man molested the victim again by touching her private parts over her clothes. The DPP said: “Following the first incident... the accused began giving the victim $20 weekly. On certain weeks, the accused would give her $40. “The victim understood these frequent payments as consideration for her silence regarding the offences, though this was not explicitly communicated by the accused to the victim.” Court documents stated that the man continued targeting the girl until 2019. By then, she received around $2,000 from him. She stopped going to the church regularly in early 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions. The prosecutor said that the victim did not tell anyone about her ordeal, as the man had told her to keep it a secret. But in early 2022, the girl was praying when she suddenly experienced flashbacks about the sexual acts that the man had committed against her. Unable to endure the distress any longer, the victim confided in her sister and mother on Sept 13 that year. The victim alerted the police two days later, and she was later referred by a polyclinic for assessment of possible post-traumatic symptoms. She then sought medical assistance at a hospital. A medical report later stated that she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder associated with a two- to three-year history of increased anxious mood, recurrent thoughts about past molestation incidents, nightmares, and avoidant behaviours. The man was finally arrested on Dec 8, 2025. On April 6, the prosecutor urged the court to sentence to him to up to three years and six months’ jail. Stressing that he had exploited his position as a religious leader, DPP Tai added: “This case involves the systematic abuse of a vulnerable child over five years by an accused who transformed what should have been a spiritual sanctuary into his personal hunting ground.” The man is expected to be sentenced on May 6.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. 
