NPCC adult leader who molested 4 teenage students in uniformed group gets jail, caning

- A man molested several teenage boys when he was in his 20s
- He was the honorary officer of his former secondary school’s National Police Cadet Corps
- The victims were from the uniformed group and one of them frequently went to his home
- A judge said that he capitalised on his position of authority over the boys
SINGAPORE — While serving as an honorary officer in his alma mater’s National Police Cadet Corps (NPCC) unit, he broke the law by repeatedly molesting male students and former students in the uniformed group.
On Thursday (June 23), the Singaporean, who is now in his 30s, was sentenced to 10 months’ jail and one stroke of the cane for his actions from 2016 to 2017.
The identities of the man, his four victims and their school cannot be revealed due to a gag order to protect the victims.
The man pleaded guilty to one charge each of molesting a 17-year-old cadet inspector and committing an obscene act with a 15-year-old cadet leader.
Six similar charges in relation to the other two victims were taken into consideration for sentencing.
The court heard that as an honorary member, the accused was ranked second only to the teacher officers in the NPCC unit.
Honorary officers help teacher officers to carry out NPCC training programmes. They undergo training themselves at the Home Team Academy.
NPCC officers of all ranks, including cadets (lower secondary students), cadet leaders (upper secondary students) and cadet inspectors (those who have graduated from secondary school) reported to the accused.
During the June school holidays in 2016, the accused gave his 15-year-old victim a ride in his car from home to school. The Secondary 2 student was involved in planning and carrying out the NPCC annual camp at school.
However, the pair arrived too early and were unable to enter the school. Because of that, the accused drove back to a car park near the boy’s residence.
After parking his vehicle, he moved to the rear passenger seat where the boy was, placed his hand on the boy’s groin area and molested him under his underwear for a few minutes.
He then returned to the driver’s seat.
The boy felt uncomfortable but was too afraid to resist due to the accused’s position of authority over him.
VICTIM WENT TO HIS HOME
The following year, the accused’s 17-year-old victim started working more closely with him on NPCC matters. The teenager had already graduated and returned to serve as a cadet inspector.
He went to the accused’s home multiple times a week, spending time in the man’s bedroom either discussing NPCC matters or watching movies together.
During these meetings, the accused became more intimate with him, progressing from holding his hands to hugging him and kissing his cheek.
The man told him he was being physical to “break the barrier” between them. Despite his discomfort, the teen reciprocated by kissing the man’s cheek as he felt pressured to do so.
Soon, the accused escalated his acts and molested the youth five times between early 2017 and July 2017.
The man’s offences came to light when the school principal lodged a police report, stating that he had been behaving improperly with students in the NPCC unit. Court documents did not reveal how the principal learned of this.
The man’s lawyer, Mr Riko Isaac, said in mitigation that because one of the victims had already graduated, the abuse of authority or trust was not as severe as that between a teacher and student.
“He was struggling with a host of personal problems but he’s certainly not using that as an excuse to escape or explain away his actions,” the defence counsel added.
District Judge Kamala Ponnampalam then told the court that the abuse of trust “may not be as significant as that in a conventional teacher-student relationship”, but she could not “ignore that he was still in a position of authority which he capitalised on”.
She added: “The touches may have been brief but they involved skin-on-skin contact with genitalia, which is a significant aggravating factor.”
For molestation, the accused could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or punished with any combination of the three.
For committing an obscene act with a young person, he could have been jailed for up to five years or fined up to S$10,000, or both.