SINGAPORE: A judge who acquitted an elderly man and his then-lover of sexual assault charges against the woman's teenage daughter has provided detailed reasons for his decision, which was based broadly on the daughter's inconsistent evidence and reasonable doubt in the case.

The prosecution is appealing against the decision.

The former temple masseur and the mother of the complainant, now aged 75 and 66 respectively, had gone on trial in 2021.

The man faced 15 charges, including sexual assault and molestation, while the woman contested 13 charges, mostly for conspiring with her lover to commit sexual abuse.

The prosecution painted a picture of a mother conspiring with her lover for him to sexually assault her daughter.

Justice Pang Khang Chau acquitted the pair of all charges in September 2025.

In a judgment made available on Wednesday (Jun 10), he detailed why he acquitted the pair of all 28 charges in total against them.

The girl was the youngest of four children and lived with her parents and siblings in a flat.

Her mother used to take her to the man's clinic at a temple, where he would provide both the mother and daughter massages, the prosecution claimed.

Their case was that both the man and the girl's mother began sexually abusing the girl at her flat after the man's clinic at the temple closed down.

They charged that the man sexually assaulted the girl when she was in Primary 5 in 2012 under the guise of treating her irregular menstruation, along with other sex acts between 2012 and 2017.

From 2017, he sexually assaulted her during ritual showers to rid her of evil spirits, the prosecution claimed.

The couple was also accused of showing the girl pornography and engaging in sex in front of her.

The complainant, who is now 25, lodged a police report in November 2017 that led to the pair's arrest.

THE MASSAGE ASSAULT CHARGES

Justice Pang first dealt with the charges where the man was accused of sexually assaulting the girl during massages.

He said the prosecution had not proven the offences that occurred from March 2012 to March 2014 beyond a reasonable doubt, as no massage session could have taken place prior to end-2013, because the massage bed was only delivered to the flat then.

An apprentice of the man had testified that he delivered ...