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Art teacher found guilty of molesting 13-year-old male student

SINGAPORE — A secondary school art teacher who engaged in sex talk with a student and claimed trial to molestation charges was found guilty on Monday (July 16). District Judge John Ng convicted the 38-year-old of three charges of outrage of modesty following a ten-day trial. The judge said he was convinced of the accused’s guilt, based on the “totality of the evidence”.

SINGAPORE — A secondary school art teacher who engaged in sex talk with a student and claimed trial to molestation charges was found guilty on Monday (July 16).

District Judge John Ng convicted the 38-year-old of three charges of outrage of modesty following a ten-day trial. The judge said he was convinced of the accused’s guilt, based on the “totality of the evidence”.

The teacher, who has been suspended from duty since February 2016, will be back in court on Aug 14, when he is expected to be sentenced. He is out on bail of S$15,000.

He taught at a co-ed school in western Singapore and cannot be named to protect his victim’s identity.

The victim, who was 13 and in Secondary Two at the time, was molested on Feb 17, 2016 in the school’s art room.

The boy got to know the teacher the previous year as he would sometimes help out in the latter’s art classes. The man became his art teacher the next year.

On the day of the offences, the boy and his classmates were assigned to make a sculpture for an art project. Together with two other classmates, he stayed back after school to work on it as he knew he would not have enough time to complete it during school hours.

His classmates left at around 2.30pm, but there were other students in the room, sitting at least a table away.

About half an hour later, the teacher walked over, stood on his right side, and used his fingers to jab the boy in the ribs.
He then tickled the boy’s underarm and squeezed his chest.

He also told the boy that he looked like a character from Japanese pornographic comics.

The boy was shocked but did not tell the students nearby what had happened as he did not know them.

The teacher went to an unoccupied art room and the boy later followed to seek advice on his sculpture.

While helping the boy, the teacher asked if he had a girlfriend, whether he masturbated and whether he watched pornography.

He told the boy that his leg hair was very long and “very sexy”.

He then grabbed the boy’s left ankle, slid his hand up to the boy’s thigh, put his hand into the boy’s shorts and touched his buttocks.

During the trial, the teacher had told the court in February that his hands were too big to put up the boy’s “tight” shorts.

When the boy backed away, the teacher stood up, grabbed his wrist and pulled the boy towards him. He then tried several times to make contact with the boy’s groin area.

The boy tried to push his hand away and the teacher stopped his own attempts.

The boy went to the toilet for about five to 10 minutes to clear his thoughts and freshen up. When he returned to the first art room, he noticed the head of the sculpture was complete. The teacher walked over and said: “See, I treat you so well.”

The victim told his sister and mother about the incident two hours later, after going home for dinner.

His mother called the boy’s form teacher, who alerted the school’s management.

During the trial, the boy testified that they had a normal teacher-student relationship prior to the offences. Art was his favourite subject, but he said he did not like it as much anymore due to the “bad memories”.

A Ministry of Education (MOE) spokesperson said it will be taking disciplinary action against the teacher, but did not elaborate.

“MOE takes a serious view of educator misconduct. Educators who fail to comply with our standards of conduct and discipline will be subjected to disciplinary action. In serious cases, they may be dismissed from the service,” the ministry said.

“MOE has a stringent selection process to ensure that only suitable candidates are selected as educators. Anyone convicted of a serious crime will no longer be accepted in our schools.”

For outrage of modesty of a minor, the teacher faces up to five years’ jail and caning, or a fine for each charge.

Last Friday (July 13), another secondary school teacher was sentenced to 16 months’ jail for committing indecent acts with a Secondary Three female student.

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