A MERCHANT has been jailed for nine years for the rape of the 10-year-old daughter of his co-habitee. The 41-year-old man was found guilty at the High Court of two counts of rape but was acquitted on three counts of indecent assault on the victim's older sister who was aged 13 at the time. Defence counsel Esther Toh said the defendant was the sole supporter of his wife and four children who lived in Canada. The defendant lived with them but decided to return here in 1988. He ran a garment factory in Kowloon and got to know the victim's mother who worked for him. The defendant had denied the incidents took place and alleged the victim made up the story. During the trial before Mr Justice Duffy, the court heard the first rape took place in the summer of 1988 when the victim was alone in her flat in Tuen Mun. She was raped a second time a year later, after she was forced into a bedroom, given $10 and told not to tell her mother.