Businessman's wives jailed in sex abuse case

Singapore, May 24 (UNI) A Singapore Court has jailed three wives of a 46-year old polygamous businessman for persuading their daughters to have sex with him on multiple occasions, the media reported today.

The 41-year old third wife was jailed for nine years on three of the six charges, which became one of Singapore's most shocking sex abuse cases.

The second wife, (38) and first wife (39), were jailed for three years, each on similar charges.

The businessman, who was named the principal culprit, was sentenced by the High Court to 32 years in jail and 24 strokes of the cane in April last year.

The wives had persuaded their 12-15 year old daughters to have sex with their father between December 2003 and March 2005.

The father had convinced his wives and children that the Quran gave him absolute ownership over his children which extended to sexual relations.

While passing the sentence yesterday, Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan said the victims had agreed because they respected and trusted their mothers.

The case came to light when the first wife's daughter told the police in June 2005 that she had been raped by her father.

Follow up investigations discovered further rapes and sex cases involving five other daughters.

The court has ordered that the names, addresses and pictures of the accused persons could not be published to protect the identity of the victims, who were now being taken care of by a local charity and welfare group.

UNI