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SINGAPORE – A teacher committed indecent acts with two 15-year-old girls in separate incidents, and at least one of them was a student at the secondary school where he taught.
He targeted his first victim in 2015. Court documents do not indicate whether she was a student at his school.
The man performed a sexual act with his second victim in 2017, in his car, near a block of flats in Tampines. He also asked the girl to perform a sexual act with him, but she refused.
Later he took the girl home and told her not to tell anyone.
But the victim told her close friends what happened and the police were later alerted.
The offender, who is now 33, pleaded guilty on Tuesday (November 24) to two counts of indecent act with a minor and one count of sexually penetrating a minor. All three charges involved the second victim.
Three other charges will be considered during sentencing, including those involving the first victim.
Details about the man and the school cannot be revealed due to a gag order.
Defense attorney Edmond Pereira told a district court that his client has since resigned from his teaching job.
Assistant District Attorney James Chew said that on February 25, 2017, the second victim received a text message from the man asking if he wanted to meet him for a walk. She agreed and he told her not to tell anyone about her departure.
The man picked her up in his car later that day before parking the vehicle near Block 374 Tampines Street 34.
The DPP said: “At this time, the defendant leaned towards the victim and began to touch her thigh and neck, while at the same time asking the victim if she trusted him.
“Lost, the victim simply answered yes. The defendant started kissing the victim’s neck.”
The court heard that the man committed the crimes shortly after. The girl thwarted her advances and then took her home. Then he blocked it in the various apps they had used to communicate with each other.
The girl told her close friends two days later, on February 27, 2017. She stopped going to school shortly after, prompting school staff to visit her home on March 2 of that year. That same day a police report was made.
On Tuesday, DPP Chew urged the court to sentence the man to at least four years in jail and emphasized that he had abused the trust placed in him.
He added: “The victim suffered psychologically from the actions of the accused. The defendant’s actions made her feel like she couldn’t trust the people she had just met.
“He felt that he should not go to school to avoid the defendant. He was scared when he saw people waiting on the empty deck and sometimes had flashbacks of the incident.”
Pereira asked for a shorter jail sentence and said his client was sorry.
The offender is now out on $ 15,000 bail and will be sentenced Thursday.
For sexually penetrating a minor, you can be imprisoned for up to 10 years and fined.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said the man stopped working for him in September 2018.
He added: “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.”
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