Singapore - A Singapore father was sentenced to 28 years in jail and 28 strokes of the cane for raping his teenage daughter 23 times, a newspaper reported Saturday.

"As her father, you should have protected her," High Court Judge Woo Bih Li was quoted by the Straits Times as telling the 39-year-old. "Instead, you engaged in a campaign of sexual abuse against her."

The man began molesting the daughter, the eldest of his three children, in late 2005 when she was 13 years old, the court heard. The girl's boyfriend alerted school officials to the abuse, and police were then notified.

Woo dismissed a leniency plea from the man's wife, siblings and the victim, who had cited a loss in family income.

"I want to stress that the plight of your family and your own plight is caused by you and you alone," Woo told the defendant. "No one is to blame your daughter." (dpa)