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SINGAPORE: For about two months, a then school principal sexually abused seven children at his school who were facing problems at home or had disciplinary problems, targeting the teenagers while they were alone in his office.
The crimes were discovered after some of the victims, who at that time were between 13 and 15 years old, confessed what happened and decided to report the matter.
The 48-year-old former director pleaded guilty on Friday (August 28) to three counts of outraging the victims’ modesty, and eight other counts were taken into consideration for sentencing.
The accused and the school cannot be named due to gag orders imposed by the court to protect the identity of the victims.
The court heard that victims were often called by an operations manager to the school’s general office to serve detention, to receive counseling or to be informed of the disciplinary action to be taken against them.
The operations manager’s desk was near the principal’s office, who asked to speak to the student in his room. Sometimes he would inform the teachers and set a time for the students to come to his office, under the pretext of discussing their disciplinary problems.
During these meetings, the former principal would be alone with the student in his office, with the door closed. He touched her arms and thighs before abusing them.
VICTIM IN CHAT ABOUT DISCIPLINE PROBLEMS WHEN THE DEFENDANT CALLED YOU
One of the earlier incidents was against a 13-year-old boy who is referred to as V3 in court documents. He was speaking to the operations manager sometime prior to August 20, 2017 about his disciplinary issues.
The defendant asked why V3 was being sanctioned, before telling the operations manager that he would take up the matter.
He took the boy into his office, closed the door, and asked him why he was still misbehaving at school.
During the conversation, the former director placed his hand on the boy’s thigh before abusing him. The boy felt pain and stood up, but the defendant began stroking the boy’s chest, telling him to stop misbehaving at school.
The victim felt “uncomfortable and upset” but did not know how to respond to the situation, and then returned to class, Assistant Prosecutors Sruthi Boppana and Mark Yeo said.
He didn’t tell anyone right away, as he felt no one would believe him due to his disciplinary issues, the court heard.
The former director committed similar acts against a second victim in September 2017, sexually abusing the victim in his office.
The 14-year-old, named V1, was shocked and told the man that he was uncomfortable with the acts.
At first, V1 was hesitant to report the matter to the school or the police. He felt that the defendant had “helped him significantly when he was in Secondary 1, as the defendant had allowed him to advance to Secondary 2 even though he did not obtain the required qualifications to do so,” prosecutors said.
A month later, the defendant targeted another 13-year-old boy who was detained near the general office.
He told the victim to stop misbehaving or risk ending up in Boys Town, before asking if he was involved in any police cases.
When told that the victim was involved in a riot case, the defendant sexually abused the boy, shocked him and caused the boy to push his chair back.
The defendant told the boy “not to do anything wrong that would force him to go to Boys Town” and continued to touch him.
The boys talked to each other, they realized what happened
The incidents against these three children came to light only after a fourth victim, aged 14, told a fifth victim, aged 15, what had happened. When the boys realized that their director had committed similar acts to them, they reported the matter to the operations manager.
The manager, along with the student welfare officer and other school personnel, initiated internal investigations and the incident was reported to the Ministry of Education (MOE). An official from the Ministry of Education presented a police report in early November 2017 on “indecent (acts)” of the principal towards the students.
Investigations revealed that the defendants had committed similar acts against a total of seven children at the school.
The Ministry of Education previously told CNA when the man was charged that he had not been employed by the ministry until January 1, 2018.
“The Ministry of Education takes a serious view of staff misconduct and will not hesitate to take disciplinary action against those who fail to meet our standards of conduct and discipline, including dismissal from service,” he said.
He will return to court for mitigation and sentencing on October 6.
For each count of sexually abusing a person under the age of 14, the man faces a maximum prison sentence of five years, a fine, spanking, or any combination of these penalties.
