- Illustrative photo.
SINGAPORE: A male teacher was sentenced to two years and six months’ jail on Thursday (Nov 21) for molesting his former pupil over three separate occasions – from when she was in Primary 5 in 2016 until she was in Secondary 1 in another school in 2018.
He was also ordered to pay her about S$560 in compensation and will have to spend an additional week behind bars if he fails to fork out the amount.
The victim, now 18, was between 10 and 13 years old at the time of the offences. In 2021, she was diagnosed with major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The 38-year-old man, who used to be the victim’s form teacher and cannot be named due to a gag order to protect her identity, was convicted of three molestation charges in September after a trial.
He has been suspended from duty since June 2020 and is no longer teaching in any school.
In earlier proceedings, deputy public prosecutors Grace Teo, Lim Ying Min and Kelly Ng stated in court documents that the victim started to confide in him about her family problems when she was in Primary 4.
As the form teacher of the victim’s Primary 5 class in 2016, he created a WhatsApp group chat with the pupils.
He communicated privately with the girl, helping her with her schoolwork and providing a listening ear for her non-school-related matters.
In these private WhatsApp conversations, which they had until June 2020 after she left the primary school, he used terms of endearment including “baby”.
The victim had told the court during the trial that the man molested her for the first time in their school when she was in Primary 5, after the last period of the day.
The DPPs had told District Judge John Ng: “The victim testified that the accused ‘suddenly slapped (her) butt’. The slap was quick and lasted seconds.”
The pair continued texting each other in 2017, even though he was not her form teacher when she was in Primary 6.
The pair were in a classroom in their school that year when he hugged her. She continued communicating with him when she was in Sec 1 in 2018.
In December that year, the offender initiated an outing to watch a movie with the pupils from his former Primary 5 class, including the victim.
He then slipped his hand under her shirt and stroked her abdomen after the movie started.
The man’s offences came to light when the victim told another teacher on June 8, 2020, about the incidents.
The victim alerted the police the next day and the offender was arrested at his home later that evening.
On Nov 21, the court heard that he will be appealing against his conviction and sentence.
His bail has been set at $30,000. - The Straits Times/ANN
