SINGAPORE: A male teacher was engaged in a video call with a 15-year-old student in late 2013 when he told her to undress.
When the minor complied, the teacher exposed himself and performed a sexual act.
The 39-year-old man, who is married and father to two children aged one and five, was sentenced to five months’ jail on Wednesday (March 25).
The offender, who cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the victim’s identity, had pleaded guilty to one count of committing an obscene act with the victim.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) told The Straits Times in August 2025 that he had been suspended since April 2023 and was no longer teaching in any school.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Cheah Wenjie told the court that the man began teaching at a school in 2012.
He taught the victim’s class biology for one term when she was a secondary three student, but did not teach them any subjects the following year, the court heard.
In October 2013, the victim and another student approached the offender for a consultation on biology-related questions as the O-level examinations were approaching.
Subsequently, the man created a Facebook group chat titled “Bio consultation” with himself, the victim and her schoolmates as members.
He also shared his personal mobile phone number with the students and invited them to contact him via WhatsApp if they had any questions.
The victim later contacted him on the messaging platform over school-related issues.
They started chatting on personal matters soon after, and the victim told him her home address.
A day before the biology O-level examination in November 2013, the man contacted the victim to tell her that he was near her home.
He asked if they could meet for a consultation before her biology paper, and they met at a park near her home at around 8pm on Nov 14 that year.
The DPP said: “Subsequent to this meeting, the accused and victim began to engage in video calls at night, and they would also meet in person at a park near the victim’s house. The accused would hold the victim’s hands and kiss her during some of these in-person meetings.
“The accused was engaged to his fiancee at this time but told the victim that he intended to end his relationship with his fiancee to be together with the victim.”
The pair also engaged in a video call between Nov 14 and Dec 27, 2013, during which the victim exposed her private parts while the man stimulated himself.
The pair engaged in similar calls on multiple other occasions before Dec 27, 2013, the court heard. She turned 16 later that month.
They stopped contacting each other after she entered junior college in 2014.
The prosecutor told the court: “As a result of the accused’s offences and the victim’s relationship with the accused, the victim struggled with her self-worth as she felt that she would only be worthy of love and affection if she acceded to sexual requests from her partners.
“The victim struggled with these issues for years up to 2023.”
On or around April 6, 2023, the victim saw a Straits Times news report about another teacher who was investigated in a molestation case.
She then realised that the offender’s actions towards her were exploitative.
The victim filed a report through MOE’s online portal, and the school where the offender taught found out about the case soon after.
On April 6, 2023, the principal spoke to him before the police were alerted five days later.
The offender was suspended from duties later that month, and he was arrested in August 2025. - The Straits Times/ANN
