President Halimah: Over-50 rapists shouldn't be spared the cane

SINGAPORE — President Halimah Yacob has called for a relook at the Penal Code provision that a convicted rapist aged 50 years and above cannot be sentenced to caning.

In a Facebook post on Monday (19 December), she expressed her dismay at the recent spate of cases involving rapes of children in their own homes by their male relatives.

She wrote that rapists should not be spared the cane just because they are fifty years old.

"It’s ironic that they could escape from the pain caused by caning despite the lifetime of severe trauma and irreparable damage that they cruelly inflicted on their victims which will last a lifetime," she wrote in her Facebook post.

"In some cases, the rapes were committed earlier but reported only after the perpetrator reached fifty years old. It’s timely that we review this law.

"It’s our duty to protect our young and we must not fail them."

Under Singapore's Penal Code, a convicted rapist can be jailed up to 20 years and fined or caned. Those 50 years old and above cannot be sentenced to caning, but can be imprisoned longer in lieu of corporal punishment.

According to CNA, the issue of removing the no-caning provision was brought up in Parliament by several Members of Parliament (MPs) in September last year. Bukit Batok MP Murali Pillai had said, "I don’t see why Parliament should presume in favour of a repeat sex offender that he is not fit to be caned when he is clearly fit enough to commit such heinous acts."

CNA wrote that Law Minister K Shanmugam had responded in Parliament by saying that there was no reason to increase the age limit for caning. He also noted that the number of over-50 men convicted for serious offences that attract caning is "significantly lower".

Better protection from sexual predators at home

President Halimah also said in her Facebook post that Singapore needs to better protect children from sexual predators who are the male relatives of the victims, calling these acts "highly disturbing and sickening".

She wrote that these victims had been groomed by either their fathers, stepfathers or other male relatives from a very young age, so that they thought that the sexual acts committed against them were normal.

"Quite a number of the victims only discovered that such acts were wrong when they attended sex education classes much later in school," she wrote.

"The sex predators had preyed on their innocence to persuade the victims that the perversion was alright.

"Some victims were reluctant to complain about the rapes for fear of breaking up the family or losing the main breadwinner. Others were threatened and intimidated into silence."

President Halimah added that severe punishments for convicted offenders are important but not sufficient by itself, and Singapore needs to look at other ways to stop children from falling prey to such rapists.

"I worry that there could be many more unreported cases. I can’t even begin to imagine how much pain and damage these young victims had to suffer," she wrote.

"We have organisations that deal with domestic violence such as PAVE which are doing good work. I hope that together with the relevant government agencies they could look at ways to better protect our children from sexual abuses in the home."

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