Educator who molested 3-year-old girl during language lesson gets 1.5 years’ jail, caning

• Briton Richard Christopher Monks pleaded guilty in February to one count of molesting a minor under 14
• The court heard that Briton molested the three-year-old girl during a lesson he held as a reading specialist with five other students present
• He was sentenced to 1.5 years' jail and three strokes of the cane
• The prosecutors had asked for a stiff sentence to reflect the “heinous” nature of the crime, public disquiet and other factors

SINGAPORE — A Briton was sentenced to one-and-a-half years’ jail and three strokes of the cane on Wednesday (March 3) for molesting a three-year-old girl under her dress for 15 minutes during a lesson with other young children around.

While working as a reading specialist at a language training and literacy centre in the western region of Singapore, Richard Christopher Monks had played a video for his young students.

He then repeatedly caressed the girl’s buttocks and also aimed a mobile phone camera at her buttocks. She later told her mother that “teacher Richard” had touched her.

The 29-year-old had pleaded guilty a month ago to one count of molesting a minor under 14. Prosecutors then pressed for at least two years’ jail and four strokes of the cane, while his lawyer Patrick Fernandez asked for a year of jail and no caning.

WHAT HAPPENED

Monks molested the girl in the midst of a language lesson with five other students, aged four and five years old, on Oct 20 in 2018.

The victim, then aged three years and 11 months, attended his lessons every Saturday afternoon. She cannot be named due to a gag order to protect her identity.

Monks conducted the lesson in a classroom with a table in the middle of the room, surrounded by eight chairs. He was aware of a closed-circuit television camera installed there, said Deputy Public Prosecutors (DPPs) Nicholas Khoo and Tan Hsiao Tien.

He soon got the students to sit on one side of the table to watch a video, placing himself behind them.

This meant that the children’s upper bodies would block the camera’s view of his hands. The lower halves of their bodies also would not be captured from such an angle.

Monks then used his iPhone to play a video and placed it on the table.

During the video-watching session, Monks molested the victim multiple times over 15 minutes. She expressed her discomfort by fidgeting and turning back to look at him several times but he did not stop.

The CCTV footage also captured him repeatedly pointing another mobile phone camera at her buttocks.

Given that he claimed to have lost this phone in Thailand, it is unclear if any photos or videos he took still exist or have been destroyed, the prosecutors told the court.

A week after the incident, the girl’s parents were preparing to take her to another of Monks’ lessons when she appeared reluctant to go. She then told her mother that “teacher Richard” had touched her.

The girl's mother lodged a police report at Kampong Java Neighbourhood Police Centre that evening and stopped taking her daughter to the language centre.

Monks was arrested on Nov 1, 2018 after returning to Singapore from a four-day trip to Thailand.

When questioned by the Singapore police, he denied molesting the girl in three statements.

‘HEINOUS ACTIONS’

DPPs Khoo and Tan earlier argued for a stiff sentence as Monks’ “heinous actions” had caused public disquiet, among other reasons.

They added that instead of meeting a basic expectation to protect the children that their parents had entrusted to his care, Monks had “brazenly molested” the girl.

“Children look to their teachers as mentors and role models whom they can trust and approach within the safe confines of a classroom.”

They quoted the girl’s mother, who had said that even though Monks decided not to claim trial, it did not mean “we can move on from this ordeal in this very second”.

“We want to finally be able to reply to our little one, yes — the perpetrator is now in jail receiving his punishment, we no longer need to live in fear,” the mother wrote.

Mr Fernandez said in mitigation that his client apologised to the girl and her family for the distress and harm he had caused, and that he had in fact not taken any photos or videos of her with his mobile phone.

He told the court that Monks had committed the offence “in a momentary lapse of judgment owing to work-related stress and anxiety”.

He had told his supervisor he was having trouble sleeping. Two months after molesting the girl, he was prescribed sertraline for anxiety and Xanax for insomnia.

In sentencing Monks, District Judge Chee Min Ping ruled that the absence of any evidence that he had taken photos or videos “did not prevent the court from finding… that he took steps to subject the victim to further degradation”.

It was appropriate to infer from the facts that he had been “making an effort” to take photos or videos, the judge said.

Further, she noted that the victim’s mother had observed behavioural changes in the girl, such as bedwetting and a fear of falling asleep on her own.

“This shows the persistent effects and trauma not only on the victim, but the emotional toll it took on the family,” the judge added.

Monks began serving his sentence immediately.

For his offence, he could have been jailed for up to five years, fined, caned, or any combination of the three.