A man with 64 children -- contract marriage in Singapore

The case in point is Public Prosecutor v MX [2006] SGHC 67.

MX, a Muslim of the Shi’ite Sect, has ten wives. Four are legal wives while six are contractual wives. He has a total of 64 children from these ten wives, consisting of 33 sons and 31 daughters.

MX has committed the offence of rape (or rather incest). He has interpreted certain verse in the Al Quran and claimed that as a father had ownership over his children and that such ownership extended to having sexual intercourse with his daughters. He had sexual intercourse with 5 of his daughters.

The Singapore High Court ruled that the accused’s interpretation of the relevant verse in the Al- Quran is not adopted by contemporary or classical Muslim scholars.

The court sentenced MX to 32 years imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane.

The court did not deliberate on the issue of contract marriage. It was not the core issue. Whether the victim is legitimate or illegitimate child of MX, that does not affect the culpability. It is still incest.