Sec school teacher jailed for molesting students from CCA group
SINGAPORE — A male secondary school teacher who molested seven teenagers from the co-curricular activity (CCA) group he led was sentenced to two years and two months’ jail and three strokes of the cane on Tuesday (17 December).
The 37-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the victims’ identities, preyed on the 14-year-old boys between 2015 and 2017, touching them while ostensibly helping them with their exercises or offering them rides home. He would then tell the teens to keep mum about the incidents.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to three out of nine charges of molest. The remaining charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.
Touched teens’ genitals
While offering one of the victims a ride home in his car in 2015, the teacher asked if the teen watched pornography. He then made an obscene gesture and slid his hand under the boy’s shorts. He touched the teen’s genitals over his underwear.
He then told the boy, “Play play only, don’t tell any teacher.” The teenager did not know how to react to the comment and felt scared.
In 2016, the teacher hugged another male student who was kneeling on the floor of the school’s gym. The teenager had been cleaning the gym as a form of punishment for missing a CCA session the day before.
When the teen tried to wriggle out of the embrace, the teacher pulled his pants and underwear forward and touched the victim’s bare genitals. The man had earlier told his CCA group members that “what happens here, stays in here.” The teenager quit the CCA group after the incident.
The following year, during a CCA session in the school gym, the teacher preyed on another student while the latter was using the gym equipment.
While the victim was using an exercise roller, the teacher asked the student if he could go lower and added that he would support him as he did so. The teacher then placed his hand under the teenager’s body.
As the student exercised, the teacher clutched the victim’s genitals over his PE shorts for a brief period. The student then fell forward in shock, prompting the teacher to laugh.
Hugged shirtless students, slapped buttocks
According the teacher’s charge sheets, he molested four other boys on separate occasions at the school’s gym, in his car and in a room at the school. He hugged one of the victim’s naked torso while he was changing and pinched his left cheek.
On another occasion, he hugged another shirtless boy and pinched his nipple, later molesting him over his pants. The teacher also slapped a teenager’s buttocks thrice while he was resting on a sofa inside one of the school’s rooms, and squeezed another victim’s genitals while the latter was carrying weights at the gym.
According to a statement by the Ministry of Education, the teacher was suspended since 14 September 2017 and is no longer teaching in any school. It added that the ministry would start internal disciplinary action against the teacher following the court ruling.
For each count of molest, he could have been jailed up to two years, and/or fined, and/or caned.
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