Teacher jailed for kissing 14-year-old student's lips without her consent

SINGAPORE — After chaperoning a school outing, a 35-year-old secondary school teacher took the chance to kiss his Secondary 2 student twice on the lips.

The 14-year-old told another teacher about the incident only about a month later, saying the man had touched and kissed her without her consent and made her uncomfortable.

Neither man nor girl can be named due to a court gag order to protect her identity. He was also the teacher-in-charge of the girl’s co-curricular activity, the details of which were redacted from court documents.

On Tuesday (Sept 3), the man — who has been suspended from his duties — was sentenced to six months’ jail in the State Courts.

The foreign national had pleaded guilty last month to one charge of committing an indecent act with a young person, which carries a maximum jail term of five years, or a fine up to S$10,000, or both for first-time offenders.

In mitigation, the man’s lawyer Raphael Louis said that his client had given a written apology for his actions to the court.

“From the outset, my client would like to say there’s no excuse for what he has done… He had every intention to plead guilty at an early stage,” Mr Louis added.

TODAY has reached out to the Ministry of Education for comment.

ASKED VICTIM OUT FOR DINNER AFTER SCHOOL OUTING

The court previously heard that the man and student had been sending text messages to each other before the kissing occurred on July 28 last year. They also went out alone together on two occasions earlier that month.

On that day, the man was a chaperone for a school outing to watch a play.

After the play ended, he asked the girl out for dinner at a Japanese restaurant.

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There, she complied with his request to sit next to him after they finished their meal. He then leaned towards her and kissed her on the lips.

"The victim was shocked and nervous. She felt embarrassed and scared. Unsure of how to react, she burst out laughing. Soon after, the accused and the victim left the restaurant,” Deputy Public Prosecutor Ben Mathias Tan told the court.

After leaving the restaurant, the girl told the man it was late and she wanted to go home, but he brought her to the staircase of a nearby building instead.

He called out to her while she was walking up the stairs in front of him, and when she turned around, he kissed her on the lips again. This rendered her speechless.

They then took a bus to the girl’s father’s home and she left him.

On Aug 17 last year, nearly a month after the incident, the girl told a teacher in charge of lower secondary students’ welfare at her school that the man had touched her.

The other teacher lodged a police report ten days later.