Soon after he scolded his daughter for racking up a $1,000 mobile phone bill, she alleged he had sexually abused her, the High Court heard yesterday in the man's ongoing trial.

The 42-year-old man said this when he took the stand to answer to 10 charges for various sexual acts allegedly carried out against the eldest of his three children between the end of 2011 and April 2014, when she was between 11 and 13.

The food stall assistant, who cannot be named to protect the girl's identity, denies committing the offences.

The girl's mother kicked him out of their flat in April 2014 and three weeks later, made a police report and filed for divorce.

Yesterday, when questioned by his lawyer Siaw Kin Yeow, he said he did not know why his daughter would make such allegations.

But in his testimony, he told of how his then-wife repeatedly sought divorce and that she and her family had "slandered" him.

"I do not know whether they used her as a tool for my wife to get a divorce from me," he said.

The man said his daughter was "okay" but "sometimes did some things behind her parents' back".

He alleged that she hit their maid, was sent to detention, borrowed money from a school security guard and put on earrings she was not allowed to wear.

The man said that before he was told to leave the flat, he had scolded the girl over the phone bill that snowballed to $1,000.

On the same day, he had also scolded his wife for lying that she was going out with female friends when she was actually with male friends, he said.

The man also testified he underwent penis enlargement surgery in Johor in 2005, 2007 and 2009, due to the state of his sexual relationship with his wife. But after the third procedure, they rarely had sex due to the size of his genitals, he said.

Part of the defence's case against the charges is that it was physically impossible for the man to have had sex with his daughter.