Sec school teacher who sexually exploited his students jailed for over six years

SINGAPORE — A male teacher at a secondary school who would invite his students to his house and perform sexual acts on them was jailed six years and six months on Monday (April 22).

The 36-year-old, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, had pleaded guilty to one count of outrage of modesty, one count of sexual exploitation and seven counts of sexual penetration of a minor under 16. Nineteen other similar charges were taken into consideration for the sentence.

The court heard that between 2016 and 2017, the man — who was diagnosed with paedophilia in October 2017 — approached several students in his school to go over to his house.

In one such instance in May 2016, he approached a Secondary 2 boy whom he had previously taught, asking him to head to his house the next day to watch pornography together. The boy, then 14, was serving detention at the time for circulating obscene images on his mobile phone. 

While the boy refused at first, he later agreed after the man said that he would not to tell anyone about their plan and promised to pay the boy S$50.

The next day, they watched pornography together and the man also performed a sexual act on the boy, paying him S$50 as agreed.

This arrangement continued for almost one-and-a-half years, with the man paying the boy between S$50 and S$300 each time he visited the man's home.

OTHER VICTIMS

Sometime in July 2016, the teacher invited another male student, then 13, to his house to play video games on his Wii console.

The student went there after school and played video games in the man’s bedroom. During the gaming session, the man carried the boy onto his lap and started moving back and forth. Feeling uncomfortable, the boy then stood up.

Court documents did not state if the boy left immediately after the incident.

In another instance in August 2017, the teacher had a lesson at the school’s computer lab and one boy stayed behind after the session was over to finish some work.

The man approached the boy and asked if he wanted to go to his house. The pupil, then aged 13, refused and walked towards the door of the lab. As he did so, he felt the man poke his buttocks with his finger several times. Scared, the boy went to join his classmates in the next room to continue the lesson.

After the end of the lesson, the man asked the boy again if he wanted to go to his house. The boy refused and left the classroom immediately. At the end of school that day, he asked the pupil again.

The boy reported the matter to his form teacher and the man’s offences eventually came to light.

For outrage of modesty of a minor, the man could have been jailed up to five years and fined, or caned, or a combination of these punishments.

For each count of sexual penetration of a minor under 16, the man could have been jailed up to 10 years or fined, or both.

For sexual exploitation of a young person, he could have been fined up to S$10,000 or jailed up to five years, or both.

In the case of a second or subsequent conviction, he could have been fined up to S$20,000 or jailed up to seven years, or both.