A former teacher in Singapore was sentenced to jail yesterday (July 23) after he was convicted of making advances on his female students.
He was found guilty of three counts of performing an indecent act with a child, and one count of sexual grooming, reported The Straits Times.
Frequent messaging
According to court documents, the accused became a fully trained teacher in 2014 and taught design and technology (D&T) classes at the school.
Prosecutors told the court he became acquainted with a female student in 2022 when she was between 13 and 14 years old at the time.
At first, they would meet at the school’s D&T studio for discussions over the subject, but the accused also coached her in mathematics, despite not teaching the subject himself.
They also texted each other regularly via WhatsApp, with prosecutors noting that the messages were extensive and often took place after 6.30pm.
‘Call me daddy’
In those messages, the student called the accused ‘daddy’, ‘dearest daddy’, and similar variations from 2022 to the end of January 2023.
In return, he’d call her ‘dearest daughter’ and other variations.
On top of that, the accused also made unsolicited compliments on the student’s physical appearance, including a now deleted message where he told her would date her in the future and make her his wife.
Prosecutors alleged he did all these with the knowledge that it was inappropriate.
Around Nov 16, 2022, the accused received a warning from his subject head and was told it was inappropriate for the student to call him “daddy”.
He later wiped out all the photos sent to him by the student on WhatsApp and instructed her to do the same in case her phone was checked.
He then switched to Instagram to continue texting the student using the “vanishing mode”, which allows users to prevent screenshots and screen recordings of messages.
Inappropriate touching
From September to November 2022, the accused and the student met at least five times, where the accused would hug and kiss her cheeks.
During one meeting at the D&T room, he made the student sit on his lap even though she felt deeply uncomfortable.
According to prosecutors, they added:
He stroked her stomach with his thumb for about a minute. The accused also hugged the complainant more than 10 times and kissed her on the cheeks and forehead.
“Furthermore, when she was sitting on his lap, the accused told her that he had not had sex with his wife in two years.”
On Nov 28, 2022, the accused kissed the student’s cheeks inside a car he rented while she was seated in his lap, and she did the same to him.
In January 2023, both of them met at an alley behind the school hall and embraced each other, with him telling her “I love you” and “I miss you” many times.
Sudden coldness
However, that all changed four months later when the accused told the student they couldn’t “be close” any more and started acting coldly towards her.
He also called her “mentally ill”, accused her of being demanding, and avoided her whenever they walked past each other.
Devastated by the accused’s sudden change in attitude towards her, the student’s grades began to go into freefall.
She later found out the accused was hitting on another female student and approached the latter before suggesting they report him to the school principal together.
Jail time
The accused was subsequently arrested and charged in court in 2024, with his lawyer telling The Straits Times that the case ended when he was suspended by the school.
Following his conviction, the accused was sentenced to two years in jail.
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