Former teacher admits sexually abusing 15-year-old student, asking her to pretend he was her ex-boyfriend

SINGAPORE: A secondary school teacher, who was popular with students, sexually abused a 15-year-old student in his car and asked her to imagine he was her ex-boyfriend.

The 33-year-old man, who cannot be named due to gag orders protecting the identity of the victim, pleaded guilty on Tuesday (Nov 24) to one count of sexual penetration of a minor and two counts of an indecent act with a young person.

Another three similar charges will be taken into consideration for sentencing.

The offender was an English and Literature teacher at a secondary school not named in court documents, while the victim was a Secondary 4 student at the time.

In late 2016, the teacher began sending text messages to the victim, moving on to communicate over Snapchat and Telegram, and later inviting her to join a school team he was in charge of.

The victim declined but agreed in February 2017 to his offer to buy her a coffee. The teacher met the victim in the school canteen and passed her the drink before asking if she had time to talk.

They chatted at the canteen, with the teacher asking her questions on topics like her relationship with her ex-boyfriend.

The following week, he sent a message to a chat group to ask if either of the two girls there were free and wanted to meet.

The victim responded that she was available, while her classmate did not reply. The teacher met the victim at the void deck of her block and they chatted for about an hour on Feb 22, 2017.

That weekend, he asked the victim to meet him for a ride and told her not to tell anyone about this.

He drove to her home on Feb 25, 2017, and complimented her looks before driving the girl to another block "to play cards".

He parked in front of a playground and began touching the girl, asking if she trusted him. He molested her and the teen did not respond. 

He later sexually abused her, but she felt uncomfortable and grabbed hold of his wrist. When he asked if "she liked it", she said no. But he removed his hand and asked her to imagine that he was her ex-boyfriend.

He then exposed himself, with the victim closing her eyes, and asked her to perform a sex act on him. The teenager told the teacher that she felt uncomfortable and refused.

The teacher eventually drove to buy food and took the victim to the Marina Bay area before taking her home, reminding her not to tell anyone about what had happened.

When the teenager reached home, she blocked her teacher on the mobile apps they used to communicate with each other.

The next Monday, she told her close friends what happened and the incident was flagged to the school. As the victim had not gone to school since the incident, staff members went to her home and a police report was filed later that day.

A GRIEVOUS ABUSE OF TRUST: PROSECUTOR

Deputy Public Prosecutor James Chew asked for four years' jail, saying that the man's actions represented "a grievous abuse of trust as a teacher" and were premeditated.

The victim also suffered psychologically due to his actions, and now feels she cannot trust people she has just met. She also felt she should not go to school, in order to avoid the offender.

When she sees people waiting at the void deck, she is scared, and suffers occasional flashbacks of the incident, said Mr Chew.

"There clearly is a duty on teachers to not only abide by the law, abide by the code of conduct stipulated by MOE (Ministry of Education) in terms of their interactions with all students," said Mr Chew, adding that the offender's actions gravely fell short of these standards.

"The key issue here is one of public interest, because where teachers abuse the trust reposed in them by the public, by parents, by students and commit such offences, it calls into question the safety and security of our schools."

He added that the victim was taking her O-Level examinations that year and the incident was "certainly not something that would have been helpful to the victim and certainly to the contrary".

Defence lawyer Edmond Pereira said four years' jail was "unduly high". He said his client has no previous convictions, resides with his parents and has since resigned from teaching.

He said the "delay" in investigations and prosecution has caused a lot of uncertainty in the man's life, resulting in him only working part-time and unable to acquire a permanent job as he knew he would have to go to prison.

He was also affected psychologically by the case and had to seek counselling, said Mr Pereira.

A POPULAR TEACHER, UNLIKELY TO REOFFEND: DEFENCE

"The accused is a very popular teacher in the school and would meet up with a lot of students, present and past, and they would always meet in the school courtyard and that's how he met the (victim)," Mr Pereira said.

The lawyer said the former teacher is unlikely to reoffend, and has "strong familial support", though he added that the offender's parents are "extremely embarrassed about what has happened".

In response, the prosecutor acknowledged that it took a few years for investigations to be completed, but said it was not an inordinate delay.

He explained that a second victim in the charges taken into consideration had to be located and investigations were carried out. These charges involve the offender showing a 15-year-old girl an obscene video in a car, kissing her and placing his hand on her thigh before moving it upwards.

The judge adjourned sentencing to Nov 26.

For sexual penetration of a minor, the man could be jailed for up to 10 years, fined, or both. For an indecent act on a young person, he could be jailed for up to five years, fined up to S$10,000, or both.

CNA has contacted MOE for more information.