‘He marked my daughter for life’: Father of Ian Fang’s victim speaks out

Fang’s sexual encounters with the girl came to light only after she sought treatment for a sexually transmitted infection. Even then, she was reluctant to tell her parents the truth.

“What my wife had to do was basically tell her: ‘Okay, you need to tell us who did this to you, because if you don’t tell us, I’m not going to pay for your medical fees’.

“And when she (saw) her health, her situation was that bad – that’s how we actually managed to squeeze it out from her, all this information.”

The girl was also stressed and scared because Fang used the prospect of killing himself or going to jail to threaten her to keep their relationship a secret, said the father.

After a police report was made in August 2024, Fang persisted in reaching out to the victim even though investigators instructed him not to contact her.

The girl’s father recalled a period of a few months when she would be harassed by phone calls from Fang late at night.

“Every single day, by the time it hits around midnight to 2am, that was a crucial timing, I would say. The phone never stops,” he said.

When the victim blocked one phone number, Fang would call again from another number.

“And whenever she (picked) up the phone call, he wouldn’t speak. He would just play songs, like those love songs and those Chinese love songs.

“And then once in a while, he will blurt out some of the words. And even sometimes, his acting (is) so good, you will hear him cry-cry on the phone.”

“MAKE THIS GUY LEARN HIS LESSON”

The father also revealed that the family intends to sue the former actor.

Mr Richard Siaw, their lawyer, told CNA he has been instructed to commence civil proceedings against Fang for harms inflicted on the victim, to get redress over and above the sentence for criminal offences.

These harms include the girl’s infection as well as the emotional and psychological suffering as detailed in court documents. She experienced suicidal thoughts after Fang reached out to her while he was under investigation.

In phone calls, Fang said he would kill himself if he went to jail. He told the girl to cry in front of her mother and ask not to press charges against him. 

The girl was warded at the Institute of Mental Health for almost a week in August 2024, and eventually diagnosed with adjustment disorder with depressed mood.

In her victim impact statement, she described feeling very dependent on Fang. She believed the only way to keep him close to her was through sex.

The offences had an impact on her gender expression. She also said she had become fearful of middle-aged men, did not want men near her, and had lost trust in relationships.

Lawyers explained to CNA that it is possible for the family to start a civil claim because criminal and civil proceedings are independent of each other.

In criminal proceedings, the state exercises its powers against an offender to seek punishment.

In civil proceedings, the victim seeks a personal remedy. This usually takes the form of monetary compensation, which is used as a proxy for the harm suffered. For example, an offender can be ordered to compensate for pain and suffering, and medical fees incurred.

The family’s lawyers are in the process of reviewing the facts and putting the case together.

When contacted, the lawyer who represented Fang in his criminal case had no comment on the matter.

The victim’s father stressed they were not suing Fang for the money.

“I will never touch a single cent from him. Everything will be donated to a charity.

“But I want to make this guy learn his lesson, and why we sue him is because there is no rotan,” he said, referring to the Malay term for cane.

“100 PER CENT TRUST” BROKEN

The family has become closer through this ordeal, said the father, though he and his wife must reckon with their daughter breaking the trust they placed in her.

Before, the girl had never given them reason to worry, and was a good student. So as parents, they took her at her word, he said.

But the secrecy of her relationship with Fang meant she would lie to them about her whereabouts, making it difficult for them to find out what was happening.

“If she tells us she’s going to school or she’s going for her lessons, we’ll just (say) ‘okay, sure’. We never go and CSI really what’s going on,” the father told CNA.

“We always gave our full 100 per cent trust to her. So we didn’t know that that’s how she went out with him and stuff like that. We didn’t know at all.”

The parents have become more vigilant about their daughter’s activities, and now keep track of her whereabouts using the Find My app on her iPhone.

She feels regret about her actions under Fang’s manipulation, said her father.

“She’s getting better, definitely, but it takes time … now we just spend more time with her, focus on her studies, focus on what she enjoys doing.”

“However she’s feeling, we can’t really know what is going (on) you know,” he said.

“But as a parent … we are trying our best to make her happy again.”